All 6 Uses

approach
in
The Color Purple
(Edited)

Sound like death approaching, angels can't prevent it.

approaching = getting near
As it approached, the people bowed down.

approached = got near
Today one of the boys in my afternoon class burst out, as he entered, The road approaches!

approaches = comes nearer
The road approaches!
For they do not approach the roadbuilders empty-handedly.

approach = come near
Oh, no. Each day since they saw the road's approach they have been stuffing the roadbuilders with goat meat, millet mush, baked yam and cassava, cola nuts and palm wine.
*

approach = coming near

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)
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.