Approach vs Pass - What's the difference?

As nouns the difference between approach and pass

is that approach is the act of drawing near; a coming or advancing near while pass is pass (between mountains ).

As a verb approach

is to come or go near, in place or time; to draw nigh; to advance nearer.

approach

English

Verb

(es)

To come or go near, in place or time; to draw nigh; to advance nearer.

* 1769 , Oxford Standard text, , xi, 20,

And if so be that the king's wrath arise, and he say unto thee, Wherefore approached ye so nigh unto the city when ye did fight? knew ye not that they would shoot from the wall?

* 1769 , Oxford Standard text, , x, 25,

Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching .

(figuratively) To draw near, in a figurative sense; to make advances; to approximate.

as he approaches to the character of the ablest statesman.

* 1839 , , A Tour in Sweden in 1838 , page 371,

Without these incentives to industry the Norwegian would be like the Laplander, without industry and civilisation ; and the nearer he approaches' to the ''beau idéal'' of those political economists — to the state of being without a taste for these foreign and expensive luxuries — the nearer he ' approaches to the condition of the Laplander in the comforts and enjoyments of life.

* 1898 , , The Works , Volume 11, 2006, Elibron Classics Replica Edition, page 205,

In this respect, the only books which approach to its excellence are Gulliver's Travels and Robinson Crusoe.

To come near to in place, time, character or value; to draw nearer to.

He was an admirable poet, and thought even to have approached Homer. -- .

"Would counsel please approach the bench?" asked the judge.

to approach the city

He approached the age of manhood.

Don't approach that house.

* 1831 , , Volume 1, The American Redstart,

When one approaches the nest of this species, the male exhibits the greatest anxiety respecting its safety, passes and repasses, fluttering and snapping its bill within a few feet, as if determined to repel the intruder.

* 1867 , , Chapter 53: And Last,

Removing with him and the old housekeeper to within a mile of the parsonage-house, where his dear friends resided, he gratified the only remaining wish of Oliver's warm and earnest heart, and thus linked together a little society, whose condition approached as nearly to one of perfect happiness as can ever be known in this changing world.

* 1898 , , Book 1, Chapter 1: The Eve of the War,

Its physical condition is still largely a mystery, but we know now that even in its equatorial region the midday temperature barely approaches that of our coldest winter.

* 1911 [1904], , Chapter III,

If a variable $v$ takes on successively a series of values that approach' nearer and nearer to a constant value $l$ in such a manner that $, v - l,$ ^{[To be read ''the numerical value of the difference between'' $v$ ''and'' $l$ ]} becomes and remains less than any assigned arbitrarily small positive quantity, then $v$ is said to '''''approach the limit'' $l$ , or to ''converge to the limit $l$ . Symbolically this is written

*:: limit $v = l$ , or, $v \dot= l$ .

*::: Usage note: In discussing convergence in mathematical analysis, modern rigorous formulations avoid using the terms approach'' and ''converge . These terms may, however, serve as a form of handwave when rigour is not required.

To make an attempt at (solving a problem or making a policy).

* 1922 , , Chapter II,

And it was with decision that he approached the problem of his wrecked shop.

To speak to, as to make a request or ask a question.

* 1988 Dinesh Vaghela, Publisher's Note'', in , Dinesh Publications, [http://www.well.com/user/jct/],

"Why bother publishing my conversations. It has not helped you, and it is not going to help anybody else", said U.G. when I approached him with the idea of publishing excerpts from his conversations with the constant stream of people who go to visit him.

(military) To take approaches to.

To bring near; to cause to draw near.

(Boyle)

Noun

(es)

The act of drawing near; a coming or advancing near.

* 1811 , , Sermons , Volume 1, page 10,

The approach of summer, says our Lord, is not more surely indicated by the first appearances of spring, than the final destruction of the wicked by the beginnings of vengeance on this impenitent people.

* 1859 , , On the Classification and Geographical Distribution of the Mammalia , page 85,

The canine, judging from the figures published by M. Lartet¹ seems to be less developed than in the male chimpanzees, gorillas and orangutans[,] [i]n which character the fossil, if it belonged to a male, makes a nearer approach to the human type ; but it is one which many of the inferior monkeys also exhibit, and is by no means to be trusted as significant of true affinity, supposing even the sex of the fossil to be known as being male.

An access, or opportunity of drawing near.

* 1625 (date from Markby), , Of Ambition'', reprinted in 1856, Thomas Markby (editor), ''The Essays; or, Counsels Civil and Moral with A table of the Colours of Good and Evil , page 84,

Honor hath three things in it: the vantage ground to do good; the approach to kings and principal persons; and the raising of a man's own fortunes.

Movements to gain favor; advances.

A way, passage, or avenue by which a place or buildings can be approached; an access.

* 1900 , ,

It was, therefore, natural to expect that the main attack would come from the north along the railroad, and from the east, where the approach from the Transvaal boundary, which is there marked by the Buffalo River, is over a country much more practicable than the western mountain range.

A manner in which a problem is solved or policy is made.

* 1787 , , Annotations to Article 1, Section 1,

The functional approach' emphasizes the core functions of each branch and asks whether the challenged action threatens the essential attributes of the legislative, executive, or judicial function or functions. Under this ' approach , there is considerable flexibility in the moving branch, usually Congress acting to make structural or institutional change, if there is little significant risk of impairment of a core function or in the case of such a risk if there is a compelling reason for the action.

* 1980 , , Final Decision, IV: Comments,

Our proposed definitional approach to the data processing-communications dilemma evoked considerable discussion.

* 1980 , , Opinion of the Court,

Its [the EPA's] initial approach to controlling the amount of lead in the ambient air was to limit lead emissions from automobiles by restricting the amount of lead in gasoline.

* 1991', Carol Lee Johnston, Jeanne Lazaris, ''Plane Trigonometry, A New '''Approach .

(used only in the plural, fortification) The advanced works, trenches, or covered roads made by besiegers in their advances toward a fortress or military post.

(golf, tennis) An approach shot.

The way an aircraft lands at an airport.

* 2007 , , Glider Flying Handbook , page 2-9,

Most small airplanes maintain a speed well in excess of 1.3 times V_SO on an instrument approach'. An airplane with a stall speed of 50 knots (V_SO) has a normal ' approach speed of 65 knots.

(bowling) The area before the lane, in which a player may stand or run up before bowling the ball.

References

pass

English

Etymology 1

From (etyl) pas, pase, pace, from . See the verb section, below.

Noun

(es)

An opening, road, or track, available for passing; especially, one through or over some dangerous or otherwise impracticable barrier such as a mountain range; a passageway; a defile; a ford.

a mountain pass

* (rfdate) (Henry Wadsworth Longfellow):

"Try not the pass !" the old man said.

A single movement, especially of a hand, at, over or along anything.

* 1921', John Griffin, "Trailing the Grizzly in Oregon", in ''Forest and Stream'', pages 389-391 and 421-424, republished by Jeanette Prodgers in '''1997 in ''The Only Good Bear is a Dead Bear , page 35:

[The bear] made a pass at the dog, but he swung out and above him [...]

A single passage of a tool over something, or of something over a tool.

An attempt.

My pass at a career of writing proved unsuccessful.

(fencing) A thrust or push; an attempt to stab or strike an adversary.

(figuratively) A thrust; a sally of wit.

A sexual advance.

The man kicked his friend out of the house after he made a pass at his wife.

(sports) The act of moving the ball or puck from one player to another.

(rail transport) A passing of two trains in the same direction on a single track, when one is put into a siding to let the other overtake it.

Permission or license to pass, or to go and come.

* (rfdate) (James Kent):

A ship sailing under the flag and pass of an enemy.

A document granting permission to pass or to go and come; a passport; a ticket permitting free transit or admission; as, a railroad or theater pass; a military pass.

(baseball) An intentional walk.

Smith was given a pass after Jones' double.

The state of things; condition; predicament; impasse.

* 1606 Shakespeare:

What, have his daughters brought him to this pass ?

* (rfdate) (Robert South):

Matters have been brought to this pass , that, if one among a man's sons had any blemish, he laid him aside for the ministry...

(obsolete) Estimation; character.

* (rfdate) Shakespeare:

Common speech gives him a worthy pass .

(obsolete, Chaucer, compare 'passus') A part, a division.

The area in a restaurant kitchen where the finished dishes are passed from the chefs to the waiting staff.

Synonyms

* gap * thrust * * (movement over or along anything) * transit * (the state of things) condition, predicament, state * (sense) access, admission, entry * (document granting permission to pass or to go and come) * *

Antonyms

* (rail transport) meet

Derived terms

* back pass/back-pass/backpass * backstage pass * backward pass * bandpass * boarding pass * bring to pass * bypass * chest pass * come to pass * coupon pass * don't pass go * drop pass * dry pass * fish pass * flare pass * flat pass * forward pass * free pass * Hail Mary pass * half-pass * hall pass * hand pass * highpass * hospital pass * inbounds pass * incomplete pass * intentional pass * lateral pass * lead pass * lowpass * mountain pass * outlet pass * passband * pass boat * pass book * pass box * pass check * pass-fail * passkey * pass law * pass-remarkable * pass rush * penalty pass * pretty pass * saucer pass * screen pass * short pass * side pass * snap pass * spiral pass * spot pass * two-line pass * userpass * wet pass

Etymology 2

From (etyl) passen, from (etyl) . More at (l).

Verb

(es)

(lb) Physical movement.

#(lb) To move or be moved from one place to another.

#(lb) To go past, by, over, or through; to proceed from one side to the other of; to move past.

, title=(The Celebrity), chapter=5 , passage=We expressed our readiness, and in ten minutes were in the station wagon, rolling rapidly down the long drive, for it was then after nine. We passed on the way the van of the guests from Asquith.}}

#*{{quote-book, year=1944, author=(w)

, title= The Three Corpse Trick, chapter=5 , passage=The dinghy was trailing astern at the end of its painter, and Merrion looked at it as he passed . He saw that it was a battered-looking affair of the prahm type, with a blunt snout, and like the parent ship, had recently been painted a vivid green.}}

#(lb) To cause to move or go; to send; to transfer from one person, place, or condition to another; to transmit; to deliver; to hand; to make over.

#*(Joseph Addison) (1672-1719)

#*:I had only time to pass my eye over the medals.

#* (1609-1674)

#*:Waller passed over five thousand horse and foot by Newbridge.

# To eliminate (something) from the body by natural processes.

# To take a turn with (a line, gasket, etc.), as around a sail in furling, and make secure.

#(lb) To kick (the ball) with precision rather than at full force.

## To kick (the ball) with precision rather than at full force.

##* The Guardian , Rob Smyth, 20 June 2010

##*:Iaquinta passes it coolly into the right-hand corner as Paston dives the other way.

##(lb) To move (the ball or puck) to a teammate.

## To make a lunge or swipe.

#(lb) To go from one person to another.

#(lb) To put in circulation; to give currency to.

#(lbl) To cause to obtain entrance, admission, or conveyance.

(lb) To change in state or status, to advance.

#(lb) To change from one state to another.

#(lb) To depart, to cease, to come to an end.

#*(rfdate) (John Dryden) (1631-1700)

#*:Beauty is a charm, but soon the charm will pass .

#*, chapter=23

, title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=The slightest effort made the patient cough. He would stand leaning on a stick and holding a hand to his side, and when the paroxysm had passed it left him shaking.}}

#*1995 , Penny Richards, The Greatest Gift of All :

#*:The crisis passed as she'd prayed it would, but it remained to be seen just how much damage had been done.

# To die.

# To go successfully through (an examination, trail, test, etc.).

# To advance through all the steps or stages necessary to become valid or effective; to obtain the formal sanction of (a legislative body).

#*{{quote-magazine, date=2012-03, author=William E. Carter, Merri Sue Carter

, volume=100, issue=2, page=87, magazine=(American Scientist) , title= The British Longitude Act Reconsidered , passage=But was it responsible governance to pass the Longitude Act without other efforts to protect British seamen? Or might it have been subterfuge—a disingenuous attempt to shift attention away from the realities of their life at sea.}}

# To be conveyed or transferred by will, deed, or other instrument of conveyance.

#(lb) To cause to advance by stages of progress; to carry on with success through an ordeal, examination, or action; specifically, to give legal or official sanction to; to ratify; to enact; to approve as valid and just.

#* (1809-1892)

#*:Pass the happy news.

# To make a judgment on'' or ''upon a person or case.

#*1485 , Sir (Thomas Malory), (w, Le Morte d'Arthur) , Book X:

#*:And within three dayes twelve knyghtes passed uppon hem; and they founde Sir Palomydes gylty, and Sir Saphir nat gylty, of the lordis deth.

#(lb) To cause to pass the lips; to utter; to pronounce; to pledge.

#*(William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)

#*:to pass sentence

#*(John Milton) (1608-1674)

#*:Father, thy word is passed .

(lb) To move through time.

# To elapse, to be spent.

# To spend.

#*(rfdate) (John Milton) (1608-1674)

#*:To pass commodiously this life.

#*:Thanks to that penny he had just spent so recklessly [on a newspaper] he would pass a happy hour, taken, for once, out of his anxious, despondent, miserable self. It irritated him shrewdly to know that these moments of respite from carking care would not be shared with his poor wife, with careworn, troubled Ellen.

#*, chapter=23

, title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=For, although Allan had passed his fiftieth year,

#(lb) To go by without noticing; to omit attention to; to take no note of; to disregard.

#*(rfdate) (William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)

#*:Please you that I may pass / This doing.

#*(rfdate) (John Dryden) (1631-1700)

#*:I pass their warlike pomp, their proud array.

#(lb) To continue.

#(lb) To proceed without hindrance or opposition.

#(lb) To live through; to have experience of; to undergo; to suffer.

#*(rfdate) (William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)

#:She loved me for the dangers I had passed .

#To go unheeded or neglected; to proceed without hindrance or opposition.

(lb) To happen.

*1876 , The Dilemma'', Chapter LIII, republished in Littell's ''Living Age , series 5, volume 14, page 274:

*:for the memory of what passed while at that place is almost blank.

(lb) To be accepted.

#(lb) To be tolerated as a substitute for something else, to "do".

#(lb) To present oneself as, and therefore be accepted by society as, a member of a race, sex or other group to which society would not otherwise regard one as belonging; especially to live and be known as white although one has black ancestry, or to live and be known as female although one was born male (or vice versa).

In any game, to decline to play in one's turn.

#(lb) In euchre, to decline to make the trump.

(lb) To do or be better.

# To go beyond bounds; to surpass; to be in excess.

#*(rfdate) (William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)

#*:This passes , Master Ford.

#(lb) To transcend; to surpass; to excel; to exceed.

#*(rfdate) (Edmund Spenser) (c.1552–1599)

#*:And strive to pass Their native music by her skillful art.

#*(rfdate) (w) (1788-1824)

#*:Whose tender power Passes the strength of storms in their most desolate hour.

To take heed.

*(rfdate) (William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)

*:As for these silken-coated slaves, I pass not.

(lb) To come and go in consciousness.

Synonyms

* pass by, pass over, etc. * (go from one limit to the other of) spend * (live through) bear, endure, suffer, tolerate, undergo * (go by without noticing) disregard, ignore, take no notice of * (transcend) better, exceed, excel, outdo, surpass, transcend * (go successfully through) * (obtain the formal sanction of) be accepted by, be passed by * (cause to move or go) deliver, give, hand, make over, send, transfer, transmit * (utter) pronounce, say, speak, utter * (promise) pledge, promise, vow * (cause to advance by stages of process) approve, enact, ratify * (put into circulation) circulate, pass around * (cause to obtain entrance) admit, let in, let past * evacuate, void * (nautical: take a turn with (a line, gasket, etc.), as around a sail in furling, and make secure ) * make * (move or be moved from one place to another) go, move * (change from one state to another) * (move beyond the range of the senses or of knowledge) * (die) pass away, pass over * (come and go in consciousness) * (happen) happen, occur * (elapse) elapse, go by * (go from one person to another) * (advance through all the steps or stages necessary to validity or effectiveness) * (go through any inspection or test successfully) * (to be tolerated) * (to continue) continue, go on * (proceed without hindrance or opposition) * exceed, surpass * take heed, take notice * (go through the intestines) * * thrust * (decline to play in one's turn ): * (sense) * overtake

Derived terms

* bypass * don't pass go * let pass * pass across * pass along * pass around * pass away * pass back * pass by * pass down * passer * pass for * pass gas * pass into * pass muster * pass off * pass on * pass out * pass over * Passover * pass-parole * pass the baton * pass the buck * pass the hat * pass the parcler * pass the time/pass time * pass through * pass up * pass upon * pass under the yoke * pass water * pass wind * pass with flying colors * password * ships that pass in the night

Etymology 3

Short for password .

Noun

(es)

(computing, slang) A password (especially one for a restricted-access website).

Anyone want to trade passes ?

Statistics

External links

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Anagrams

* asps * saps * spas English ergative verbs 1000 English basic words ----