Aboutapproximately

Aboutapproximately is a coined term used in linguistic and style discussions to describe the practice of pairing two hedging words of estimation: about and approximately. The term is not part of standard English and is typically treated as a nonce label, appearing mainly in meta-text or demonstrations of redundancy in hedging.

Origin and status: There is no formal etymology. It arises in online language communities and scholarly commentary as a way to discuss how speakers combine qualifiers of uncertainty. It is not recommended for formal writing, but it can be useful in teaching to illustrate hedging interaction.

Usage and interpretation: The combination can be read as hyper-hedging, signaling stronger doubt about a numeric claim than either word would alone. In practice, its appearance tends to invite scrutiny of context, audience, and the value being described.

Examples: The forecast is aboutapproximately 4.7% growth. The distance is aboutapproximately 12 kilometers.

See also: hedging, approximation, estimation, numerical tolerance.

Note: As a coined term, aboutapproximately lacks standard definition and is primarily of interest to those studying language use.