likimääräisiin

Likimääräisiin is the illative plural form of the Finnish adjective likimääräinen, which means approximately or rough. In Finnish, adjectives inflect for number and case, so likimääräinen has several inflected forms to agree with a noun. The illative plural form likimääräisiin is used when the modifying noun is in the illative case and refers to “into approximate …” or to categorize something into approximate groups.

Morphology and usage are typical of Finnish grammar. The corresponding forms include likimääräiset (nominative plural), likimääräisiä (partitive plural), likimääräisten (genitive plural), likimääräisissä (inessive plural), likimääräisistä (elative plural), likimääräisille (allative plural), and likimääräisiin (illative plural). Thus likimääräisiin appears in phrases where a plural noun in illative case is described as approximate. For example: Tiedot jaoteltiin likimääräisiin luokkiin, meaning “The data were divided into approximate categories.”

Etymology and related forms: likimääräinen is formed from the noun likimäärä (“rough estimate” or “approximation”) plus the adjective suffix -inen. The adverbial form is likimääräisesti. Related nouns include likimääräisyys and other derivatives that describe approximation or roughness.

Usage context: likimääräisiin is common in statistical writing, research reports, and contexts where data are grouped into approximate categories or classifications. It signals that the categories or groupings are estimates or rough divisions rather than exact, precise classifications.

See also: Finnish grammar, adjectives, illative case.