All 11 Uses

approach
in
October Sky
(Auto-generated)

As he neared the track, a long line of loaded coal cars trundled out of his way as if in recognition of his approach.
Chpt 3 *

approach = getting near
The best approach was to throw myself immediately on her mercy.†
Chpt 12 *

approach = way of doing something
As I approached the line of little frame houses on both sides of the creek, I came upon a knot of men gathered on and around Pooky's porch.
Chpt 23

approached = moved nearer
He stopped again, the other miners passing us by at a hard slog, the shift-change hour approaching.†
Chpt 5
In the darkness of the mine, the signal from one miner to another to approach was a roll of the head so the light from his helmet lamp made a circle.†
Chpt 6
Sonny, we must approach this enterprise in a scientific manner!†
Chpt 7
Quentin kept grumbling about our unscientific approach.†
Chpt 7
When I told Quentin about it, he called it a "sequential approach" to problems and admired it.†
Chpt 12
I avoided all contact with my parents, never approaching Dad's bedroom, getting up early and standing in the dark an hour before the school bus came.†
Chpt 19
It took a month to get our expedition prepared, so we were approaching the end of June by the time Red drove me, Sherman, O'Dell, and Roy Lee in the back of the garbage truck to the abandoned track.†
Chpt 20
I made a quick inspection of their displays and was relieved to find that none of them approached the sophistication of the BCMA's designs.†
Chpt 25

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.