oblong

American  

[ob-lawng, -long] / ˈɒbˌlɔŋ, -ˌlɒŋ /

adjective

1. elongated, usually from the square or circular form.

2. in the form of a rectangle one of whose dimensions is greater than the other.

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noun

• oblongs
  plural

1. an oblong figure.

oblong British  

/ ˈɒbˌlɒŋ /

adjective

1. having an elongated, esp rectangular, shape

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noun

1. a figure or object having this shape

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• oblongness
  noun
• oblongish
  adjective
• oblongly
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• oblongs
  plural

Etymology

Origin of oblong

1375–1425; late Middle English oblonge < Latin oblongus rather long, equivalent to ob- ob- + longus long ¹

Explanation

If you take a rectangle or a circle and stretch it out, you end up with an elongated shape called an oblong. If you stretch a circle until it becomes an oval, you've made it oblong. First consider the Latin word longus, which means "long," and the prefix "ob," which refers to some direction. It makes sense, then, that an oblong should be an elongated shape, stretched long in one direction. It can be used a noun or an adjective. If your dining room table is an oblong, you're going to need an oblong tablecloth.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

oblong oblongs

Long before the World Cup kicked off, U.S. manager Mauricio Pochettino wasn’t shy about setting extraordinarily high expectations for a country that believes footballs are oblong.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 30, 2026

The large orange oblong zone “represents areas that are immediately dangerous to life and health, where it would cause injury if anybody inhales or is impacted by the product in question.”

From Los Angeles Times ● May 24, 2026

The most famous visual landmark associated with Singapore is probably the Marina Bay Sands, with Moshe Safdie’s oblong, swimmable rooftop straddling three buildings.

From Slate ● Mar. 28, 2025

The smallest of its windowless chambers was an irregular oblong box which was commonly referred to as "the Coffin", and was believed to be Robert Burns' favoured seat in the Tavern.

From BBC ● Nov. 30, 2024

Newton’s modern biographer, Richard Westfall, concludes that we should regard Newton’s claim to have been surprised by the oblong image cast by the prism ‘as a rhetorical device which is not to be understood literally’.

From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton

Finally, after the umpteenth tilt, the mercury sparks, filling the oblongs with an eerie, flickering, mesmerizing blue glow.

From Seattle Times ● Jan. 26, 2024

To support his radical reassessment, Dr. Reeves pointed to a pair of cartouches — ovals or oblongs enclosing a group of hieroglyphs — and a curious misspelling painted on the tomb’s north wall.

From New York Times ● Oct. 30, 2022

Most of Engida’s canvases are crowded with women in domestic scenes, their faces rendered in simple black lines, except for the bright red oblongs that often represent lips.

From Washington Post ● Oct. 14, 2020

“My sense of proportion tells me that oblongs are more attractive than squares, just as…a greyhound is more graceful than an English bulldog,” Mr. Earl wrote in a 1954 essay in the Saturday Evening Post.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 25, 2018

Mack, with a piece of chalk, drew five oblongs on the floor, each seven feet long and four feet wide, and in each square he wrote a name.

From "Cannery Row" by John Steinbeck