Oxford Business English Dictionary for Learners of English

[+ obj] to officially agree to or give permission for sth, especially a plan or request: The committee unanimously approved the plan, о The drug has now been approved for use in Europe.

[+ obj] (often be approved) to say that sth is good enough to be used, or is correct: The accounts were formally approved by the board.

[no obj] to think that sb/sth is good or acceptable; to have a positive opinion of sb/sth: I very much approve of his decision.

ap,proved ac'count noun [c] (Accounting)

1 [usually pi.] a financial account that has been officially accepted by a company or an

approved contractor 24

organization: The figures are taken from the audited and approved accounts for last year. 2 a credit account held by a customer who is known to be reliable: Our terms are cash with order, except approved accounts.

ap.proved contractor noun [c] a company or person that is officially recognized as doing good, reliable work for other companies: A building company must provide detailed financial information when applying to join a list of approved contractors.

approved 'vendor = preferred vendor

approx abbr (only used in written English) approximate; approximately: approx price: 200

approximate adjective, verb

adjective /a'prDksirnat; AmE a'pra:k-/ {abbr approx) almost correct or accurate, but not completely so; not exact: The cost given is only approximate, о an approximate calculation of the overall cost

an approximate calculation/cost/estimate/ number/total

► approximately adverb: I spend approximately 60% of my working day on the phone.

verb /a'prDksimeit; AmE a'pra:k-/

[+ obj or no objj to be similar or close to sth in amount, nature, quality, etc: The total cost will approximate 15 million dollars, о Output from the plant approximates to one quarter of national requirements.

[+ obj] to calculate or estimate sth fairly accurately: The time required can be approximated by the following formula.

approximation /a.prDksi'meiJn; AmEa,pra:k-/ noun [c]

an estimate of a number or an amount that is almost correct, but not exact: That's just an approximation, you understand.

a thing that is similar to sth else, but is not exactly the same: Our results should be a good approximation to the true state of affairs.

APR /.ei pi: 'a:(r)/ abbr {Finance) annual percentage rate the total amount of money that is charged in one year for borrowing money compared with the amount of money borrowed, used when interest is normally paid more often than once a year; the amount received from money invested: The bank offers an APR of 21% on its credit card. AER, EAR

aptitude /'aeptitjuid; AmE-tu:d/non/» [u,C] natural ability or skill at doing sth: She showed a natural aptitude for the work, о His aptitude for motivating people has got him to his current position.

"aptitude test noun [c] {HR) a test designed to show whether sb has the natural ability for a particular job: Two candidates scored well on the aptitude test.

arable /'aerabl/ adjective, noun

adjective

connected with growing crops such as wheat or corn: Only 44% of the world's arable land (= land suitable for growing crops) is cultivated, о arable farms

noun [u]

arable land or crops

arkiter /'a:bita(r); AmE 'a:rb-/ noun [C] a person who settles a dispute or who has the power to decide what will be done or accepted: The union representative agreed to act as arbiter between the. employee and her manager, о the arbiter of domain name disputes arbitrage /'a:bitra:3; -trid3; AmE 'a:rbatra:3/ noun [U]