I am in the throes of submitting some book chapters that are due by the end of the week, and this struck me: I was reporting that in the U.S. about 7,000 people die every year from medication errors. I found this statistic on the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality Web site, and when I cited it in my paper, I automatically changed it to "approximately." Then I thought of our discussions here about keeping it simple. I believe I have been brainwashed by academe!

But more importantly, is there a difference between "about" and "approximately?" I think not, but I thought I'd ask experts.

Of course, there are many ways "about" can be used in which "approximately" wouldn't do at all. "I went about my business".

But in those case in which either might do, I tend to use "about" when the exact number isn't known, and approximately when it is, but precision isn't needed.

There are about 10,000 bottles of wine in my cellar. (I haven't counted recently.)

The library, which keeps very good records, reported that it had added approximately 10,000 new titles during the last fiscal year.

I tend to use the two interchangeably, for variety, and often in the same sentence. For instance:

There are approximately 25,000 schools in England, of which about 20,000 teach children under eleven years of age.

I'll sometimes use around with the same meaning.

quote:

There are about 10,000 bottles of wine in my cellar. (I haven't counted recently.)

After that many bottles of wine, I'm surprised you can count at all. There mya be minny maw thin yu thin thay r.

Unless you've recently had a visit from Proofreader, in which case it sounds like you might come up a few bottles short

quote:

had a visit from Proofreader, in which case it sounds like you might come up a few bottles shor

Ill hve you no am a teetottalater. jush a bed speleler.

I wonder if there is a linguistic distinction. Val, is your distinction one that you just use, or is it something you've learned? It sounds good!

There is a prescription, reported in Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of English Usage, that approximately should be replaced by about or nearly or almost when it can be. MWDEU notes that approximately is usually used in technical or reference works, and in serious general prose, and it almost never used in casual or informal contexts. They don't see any reason to avoid approximately in the contexts it is used in.

Well, I am glad I used it in the right context!