having the general form, shape, or outline of an egg; egg-shaped.
ellipsoidal or elliptical.
an object of oval shape.
a body or plane figure that is oval in shape or outline.
an elliptical field or a field on which an elliptical track is laid out, as for athletic contests.
Informal. a football.
1560–70; < New Latin ōvālis, equivalent to Latin ōv ( um ) egg 1 + -ālis -al 1
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Harris not only excels on the oval, but also on the gridiron.
From Los Angeles Times • May 30, 2026
That’s 1,100 miles of left turns around two oval tracks.
From Los Angeles Times • May 22, 2026
The human doctor with 40 years of experience was right—the small oval in my right breast didn’t look “suspicious.”
From The Wall Street Journal • May 4, 2026
He was leading the race at Germany's Lausitzring oval held just four days after the 11 September attacks in the US when the accident that changed his life took place.
From BBC • May 2, 2026
She stood in front of a small photograph in an oval frame.
From "City of the Plague God" by Sarwat Chadda
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
