ˈproximately, adv.
[f. proximate a. + -ly2.]
1. In an immediately adjacent situation (in space, serial order, etc.); next; closely.
| 1597 A. M. tr. Guillemeau's Fr. Chirurg. 32 b/2 On that parte which nexte and proximately thervnto is situated. 1822 T. Taylor Apuleius 283, I manifestly drew near..and proximately adored them. |
2. In the way of immediate agency, etc.; by direct relation; as the next (preceding or following) term in a series of causes or the like; immediately: opposed to remotely or ultimately.
| 1675 Baxter Cath. Theol. ii. v. 105 Was it not proximately in my nearer Parents? 1691 ― Nat. Ch. i. 2 Tho' it meant Christ remotely and eminently, it meant his Successors proximately. 1745 Wesley Answ. Ch. 18 Faith..is Proximately necessary thereto; Repentance, Remotely. 1878 Gladstone in 19th Cent. Mar. 594 Where our partners..are both more proximately and more deeply concerned than ourselves. |
3. With approach to accuracy; approximately.
| 1863 Fawcett Pol. Econ. iii. 361 This..may proximately be regarded as the amount of gold which England annually requires to maintain her metallic currency. 1902 J. H. Rose Napoleon I, I. xii. 297 The same remark is proximately true of the literary life of the First Empire. |