All 15 Uses of
approach
in
Of Human Bondage
- The sky was cloudless, but the stars were dim at the approach of day; there was a light mist on the river, and the great buildings on the north side were like palaces in an enchanted island.†
Chpt 113-114 *approach = coming
- She approached the bed.†
Chpt 1-2
- She promised that she would come and see him sometimes, and that she would never forget him; and she told him about the country he was going to and about her own home in Devonshire, her father kept a turnpike on the high-road that led to Exeter, and there were pigs in the sty, and there was a cow, and the cow had just had a calf, till Philip forgot his tears and grew excited at the thought of his approaching journey.†
Chpt 3-4
- Meanwhile the Christmas holidays approached.†
Chpt 37-38
- There was not in it the smallest approach even to the mediocre achievement at which most of the young persons were able after some months to arrive.†
Chpt 45-46
- He delighted in the robust common sense of Thomas Hobbes; Spinoza filled him with awe, he had never before come in contact with a mind so noble, so unapproachable and austere; it reminded him of that statue by Rodin, L'Age d'Airain, which he passionately admired; and then there was Hume: the scepticism of that charming philosopher touched a kindred note in Philip; and, revelling in the lucid style which seemed able to put complicated thought into simple words, musical and measured, he read as he might have read a novel, a smile of pleasure on his lips.†
Chpt 53-54unapproachable = unable to get closer tostandard prefix: The prefix "un-" in unapproachable means not and reverses the meaning of approachable. This is the same pattern you see in words like unhappy, unknown, and unlucky.
- Philip was elated; she had addressed him of her own accord; he saw the time approaching when his turn would come and he would tell her exactly what he thought of her.†
Chpt 55-56
- She approached sulkily.†
Chpt 55-56
- Christmas was approaching, and a good many of the students had gone into the country for the short holiday between the two parts of the winter session; but Philip had refused his uncle's invitation to go down to Blackstable.†
Chpt 59-60
- He had given the approaching examination as his excuse, but in point of fact he had been unwilling to leave London and Mildred.†
Chpt 59-60
- His examinations were approaching, and Norah was as interested in them as he.†
Chpt 65-66
- He had been always anxious that there should be no child to make the entanglement more complicated; and when Mildred, unable longer to conceal its approach, informed him of the fact, he was seized with panic.†
Chpt 69-70
- As the train approached Brighton the sun poured through the carriage window.†
Chpt 73-74
- Whatever happened to him now would be one more motive to add to the complexity of the pattern, and when the end approached he would rejoice in its completion.†
Chpt 105-106
- She had many admirers, but they left her unmoved; she gave one the impression that she looked upon love-making as nonsense; and it was easy to imagine that young men found her unapproachable.†
Chpt 115-116unapproachable = unable to get closer tostandard prefix: The prefix "un-" in unapproachable means not and reverses the meaning of approachable. This is the same pattern you see in words like unhappy, unknown, and unlucky.
Definitions:
-
(1)
(approach as in: approached the city) to get closer to (near in space, time, quantity, or quality)
-
(2)
(approach as in: use the best approach) a way of doing something; or a route that leads to a particular place
-
(3)
(approach as in: approached her with the proposal) to begin communication with someone about something -- often a proposal or a delicate topic
-
(4)
(meaning too rare to warrant focus) meaning too rare to warrant focus:
More rarely (and typically only in classic literature), the phrase nearest approach to as used in "her nearest approach to an apology" or "her nearest approach to a smile" typically means that "something is as close to something else as it ever gets." "As near an approach to" can have a similar meaning.