elliptically

[ ih-lip-tik-lee ]

adverb
  1. in the form of an ellipse.

  2. in an elliptical manner; by an ellipse.

  1. with great economy of words or expression; concisely: to speak elliptically.

  2. without sufficient transition or a logical connection between thoughts, ideas, or expressions; ambiguously or cryptically: to jump elliptically from generalities to specifics.

Origin of elliptically

1
First recorded in 1810–20; elliptical + -ly

Words Nearby elliptically

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use elliptically in a sentence

  • Then, looking almost challengingly at one another, we began to speak rather quickly, and a little elliptically.

    The Debit Account | Oliver Onions
  • Aristotle used Enthymeme in the wider sense of an elliptically expressed argument.

  • Over the north side of the knees was an elliptically-shaped piece of cedar burned on the upper side.

    The Archaeology of the Yakima Valley | Harlan Ingersoll Smith
  • "It's the back-block bend," he remarked elliptically, in the boat.

    My Lord Duke | E. W. Hornung