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Putative vs Approximate - What's the difference?

putative | approximate |

As adjectives the difference between putative and approximate

is that putative is commonly believed or deemed to be the case; accepted by supposition rather than as a result of proof while approximate is approaching; proximate; nearly resembling.

As a verb approximate is

to carry or advance near; to cause to approach.

putative

English

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • Commonly believed or deemed to be the case; accepted by supposition rather than as a result of proof.
  • * 1879 , Maurice Mauris, "A Materialistic Artist," New York Times , 9 Nov., p. 10:
    • [T]he lady . . . insisted upon going herself, requesting me to mind for a second the baby. . . . lo! the baby awoke and stared at me with a pair of big frightened eyes, which the little thing in another moment rolled in all directions, as if in search of its putative mother.
  • * 1989 , , " US must support Thailand if Cambodia is to survive," Milwaukee Sentinel'' ''(Los Angeles Times Service) , 28 Oct. (retrieved 15 Sep. 2009):
    • Just as Prince Sihanouk is fronting for the Khmer Rouge today . . . so also was he their putative leader from 1970 to 1975.
  • * 2006 , Unmesh Kher, " No Neat Endings for the JonBenet Case," Time , 18 Aug.:
    • Karr's past does raise suspicions. When he was arrested in Bangkok, he was living in a dormitory-like guesthouse in a neighborhood frequented by sex tourists. . . . Of course, Karr's putative pedophilia would not make him guilty of murder.

    Synonyms

    * ostensible, purported, reputed, supposed

    approximate

    English

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Approaching; proximate; nearly resembling.
  • Near correctness; nearly exact; not perfectly accurate.
    • Approximate results or values.
    To help carry out its mission, NASA's Genesis spacecraft has on board an ion monitor to record the speed, density, temperature and approximate composition of the solar wind ions.

    Antonyms

    * exact, precise

    Derived terms

    () * approximately * approximation * approximative

    Verb

    (approximat)
  • To carry or advance near; to cause to approach.
    • To approximate the inequality of riches to the level of nature. --Burke.
  • To come near to; to approach.
    • The telescope approximates perfection. --J. Morse.
  • To estimate.

    • Quotations

    When you follow two separate chains of thought, Watson, you will find some point of intersection which should approximate to the truth.
    — Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in The Disappearance of Lady Frances Carfax