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Showing results for elliptical.
Definitions

elliptical

[ih-lip-ti-kuhl] / ɪˈlɪp tɪ kəl /
ADJECTIVE
oval-shaped
Synonyms


Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Some exoplanets follow highly elliptical orbits, meaning the amount of heat they receive from their star changes significantly over time.

From Science Daily • Mar. 25, 2026

More than 100 of Cheever’s stories appeared in the New Yorker from the 1940s into the 1980s, making him a sort of ambassador for that magazine’s brand of polished, elliptical fiction.

From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 17, 2025

Librettist Gene Scheer distilled Michael Chabon’s sprawling, Pulitzer Prize-winning book from 2000 into a straightforward, primary-colored plot, losing much of its magical, elliptical atmosphere.

From The Wall Street Journal • Sep. 23, 2025

The Moon has an elliptical orbit and when it is at its closest point to the Earth we say that it is in perigee.

From BBC • Sep. 12, 2025

If the earth had been a flat disk, the shadow would have been elongated and elliptical, unless the eclipse always occurred at a time when the sun was directly under the center of the disk.

From "A Brief History of Time: And Other Essays" by Stephen Hawking




Vocabulary lists containing elliptical