So I searched and a few questions that mention variations of this word but none that asked what the difference was?
I have heard:
Approximate & Proximate
Approximately & Proximity
But never:
Approximity or Proximately
I live within close proximity to the bus stop.
OR
It was approximately 5m.
How does the prefix "ap" change the word?
NOTE (for the fans): The words I typed as "never heard" coincidentally came up with red lines for spell check…
Best Answer
Both proximate and approximate come from the latin proximāre, which means close or near. Both proximate and approximate indicate being near or close to something, but approximate is usually used to indicate being within a certain range of a goal, while proximate usually means physically close. When talking about measurements, you'd say that a sharp stick is approximately three inches long, meaning its length is near to, but not exactly, three inches.
If you said the stick was proximate to my eye, that would mean the stick is physically close to my eye.
Both are usually adjectives, but can also be verbs. However approximate as a verb is much more common than proximate.
The prefix ap comes from the latin ad, meaning to, so approximate could be said to mean to come close to
http://www.oed.com/search?searchType=dictionary&q=proximate