"to a first approximation" meaning in English

See to a first approximation in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Prepositional phrase

Rhymes: -eɪʃən Etymology: Originally from the scientific concept of order of approximation. Head templates: {{head|en|prepositional phrase|head=}} to a first approximation, {{en-prep phrase}} to a first approximation
  1. Used to indicate that a statement, though not necessarily entirely accurate or without exceptions, is good enough for basic or preliminary purposes; more or less; basically.
    Sense id: en-to_a_first_approximation-en-prep_phrase-OgQB4043 Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries
     
{
  "etymology_text": "Originally from the scientific concept of order of approximation.",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "prepositional phrase",
        "head": ""
      },
      "expansion": "to a first approximation",
      "name": "head"
    },
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "to a first approximation",
      "name": "en-prep phrase"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "prep_phrase",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Used to indicate that a statement, though not necessarily entirely accurate or without exceptions, is good enough for basic or preliminary purposes; more or less; basically."
      ],
      "id": "en-to_a_first_approximation-en-prep_phrase-OgQB4043",
      "links": [
        [
          "more or less",
          "more or less"
        ],
        [
          "basically",
          "basically"
        ]
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "rhymes": "-eɪʃən"
    }
  ],
  "word": "to a first approximation"
}

{
  "etymology_text": "Originally from the scientific concept of order of approximation.",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "prepositional phrase",
        "head": ""
      },
      "expansion": "to a first approximation",
      "name": "head"
    },
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "to a first approximation",
      "name": "en-prep phrase"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "prep_phrase",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English prepositional phrases",
        "Pages with 1 entry",
        "Pages with entries",
        "Rhymes:English/eɪʃən",
        "Rhymes:English/eɪʃən/8 syllables"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Used to indicate that a statement, though not necessarily entirely accurate or without exceptions, is good enough for basic or preliminary purposes; more or less; basically."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "more or less",
          "more or less"
        ],
        [
          "basically",
          "basically"
        ]
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "rhymes": "-eɪʃən"
    }
  ],
  "word": "to a first approximation"
}

Download raw JSONL data for to a first approximation meaning in English (1.0kB)

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-11-06 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-10-02 using wiktextract (fbeafe8 and 7f03c9b). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.