ETYM Cf. French approche. Related to Approach.
(Irregular plural: approaches).
1. The event of one object coming closer to another; SYN. approaching.
2. The act of drawing spatially closer to something; SYN. approaching, coming.
3. The temporal property of becoming nearer in time; SYN. approaching, coming.
4. A close approximation.
5. A formulation adopted in tackling a problem; SYN. attack, plan of attack.
6. A relatively short golf shot intended to put the ball onto the putting green; SYN. approach shot.
Earnest and conscientious activity intended to do or accomplish something:; SYN. effort, endeavor, endeavour, try.
ETYM French effort, Old Fren. esfort, for esfors, esforz, from esforcier. Related to Efforce.
Use of physical or mental energy; hard work; SYN. elbow grease, exertion, travail, sweat.
ETYM French essai, from Latin exagium a weighing, weight, balance.
1. A tentative attempt.
2. An analytic or interpretive literary composition.
Short piece of nonfiction, often dealing with a particular subject from a personal point of view. The essay became a recognized genre with French writer Montaigne’s Essais 1580 and in English with Francis Bacon’s Essays 1597. Today the essay is a part of journalism: articles in the broadsheet newspapers are in the essay tradition.
Abraham Cowley, whose essays appeared 1668, brought a greater ease and freedom to the genre than it had possessed before in England, but it was with the development of periodical literature in the 18th century that the essay became a widely used form. The great names are Joseph Addison and Richard Steele, with their Tatler and Spectator papers, and later Samuel Johnson and Oliver Goldsmith. In North America the politician and scientist Benjamin Franklin was noted for his style.
A new era was inaugurated by Charles Lamb’s Essays of Elia 1820; to the same period belong Leigh Hunt, William Hazlitt, and Thomas De Quincey in England, C A Sainte-Beuve in France, and Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry Thoreau in the US. From the 19th century the essay was increasingly used in Europe and the US as a vehicle for literary criticism. Hazlitt may be regarded as the originator of the critical essay, and his successors include Matthew Arnold and Edmund Gosse. Thomas Macaulay, whose essays began to appear shortly after those of Lamb, presents a strong contrast to Lamb with his vigorous but less personal tone.
There was a revival of the form during the closing years of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries, in the work of R L Stevenson, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Anatole France, Théophile Gautier, and Max Beerbohm. The literary journalistic tradition of the essay was continued by James Thurber, Mark Twain, H L Mencken, Edmund Wilson, Desmond MacCarthy, and others, and the critical essay by George Orwell, Cyril Connolly, F R Leavis, T S Eliot, Norman Mailer, John Updike, and others.
ETYM Latin experimentum, from experiri to try: cf. Old Fren. esperiment, experiment. Related to Experience.
In science, a practical test designed with the intention that its results will be relevant to a particular theory or set of theories. Although some experiments may be used merely for gathering more information about a topic that is already well understood, others may be of crucial importance in confirming a new theory or in undermining long-held beliefs.
The manner in which experiments are performed, and the relation between the design of an experiment and its value, are therefore of central importance. In general an experiment is of most value when the factors that might affect the results (variables) are carefully controlled; for this reason most experiments take place in a well-managed environment such as a laboratory or clinic.
1. A venture at something new or different.
2. The act of conducting a controlled test or investigation; SYN. experimentation.
3. The testing of an idea; SYN. experimentation.
1. The act of administering or being in charge of something
2. The state of being in operation
3. (With) To be competitive and have a chance to win
1. Any standardized procedure for measuring sensitivity or memory or intelligence or aptitude etc; SYN. mental test, mental testing, psychometric test.
2. The act of testing something; SYN. trial, run.
3. The act of undergoing testing; SYN. trial.
4. A hard outer covering as of some amoebas and sea urchins.
5. Zoology, shell of invertebrate.
ETYM From Try.
1. (Sports) A preliminary competition to determine qualifications.
2. An annoying or frustrating event; SYN. tribulation, visitation.
3. Trying something to find out about it; SYN. test, tryout.