All 6 Uses of
approach
in
The Color Purple
- 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:
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(1)
(approach as in: approached the city) to get closer to (near in space, time, quantity, or quality)
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(2)
(approach as in: use the best approach) a way of doing something; or a route that leads to a particular place
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(3)
(approach as in: approached her with the proposal) to begin communication with someone about something -- often a proposal or a delicate topic
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(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.