Other forms: approached, approaches, approaching
To approach is to come nearer to somebody or something. Approach the house, as winter approaches, do not approach the animals.
It also means to speak to somebody about something for the first time: approach a publisher, she was approached about the job. And the noun means a way of dealing with something — a new approach, a different approach — which is one of the most used nouns in business and education writing. Note that approach takes no preposition when it means come near: approach the desk, never approach to the desk.
1verbapproachTo come nearer to somebody or something.
“A car approached and slowed right down.”
synonyms: near, draw near
2verbspeakTo speak to somebody about something for the first time.
“She was approached about the post in the spring.”
3noundealingA way of dealing with something.
“The whole approach needs rethinking.”
4nounactThe act of coming nearer.
“You can hear the approach of a train long before you see it.”
Too few real examples of this word to estimate which sense is commonest.
approach is a coming near, or a method.
Latin appropiare is ad-, to, plus prope, near — the same root as propinquity and proximity. To approach is to make near, and the word is doing exactly what it says.
Proto-Indo-European
*per-
Latin
appropio
Old French
aprochier
Middle English
aprochen
English, today
approach
Built from
From Middle English aprochen, borrowed from Old French aprochier (modern French approcher), from Latin appropio, a verb based on Latin prope (“near”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European pro- (a variant of per- (“before, in front; first”)) + -kʷe (“suffix forming distributives from interrogatives”)).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA