"approaching" in the noun sense

1. approach, approaching

the event of one object coming closer to another

2. approach, approaching, coming

the temporal property of becoming nearer in time

"the approach of winter"

3. approach, approaching, coming

the act of drawing spatially closer to something

"the hunter's approach scattered the geese"

"approaching" in the verb sense

1. approach, near, come on, go up, draw near, draw close, come near

move towards

"We were approaching our destination"

"They are drawing near"

"The enemy army came nearer and nearer"

2. border on, approach

come near or verge on, resemble, come nearer in quality, or character

"This borders on discrimination!"

"His playing approaches that of Horowitz"

3. set about, go about, approach

begin to deal with

"approach a task"

"go about a difficult problem"

"approach a new project"

4. approach, come near

come near in time

"Winter is approaching"

"approaching old age"

5. approach

make advances to someone, usually with a proposal or suggestion

"I was approached by the President to serve as his adviser in foreign matters"

"approaching" in the adjective sense

1. approaching, coming, forthcoming, upcoming

of the relatively near future

"the approaching election"

"this coming Thursday"

"the forthcoming holidays"

"the upcoming spring fashions"

Source: WordNet® (An amazing lexical database of English)

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