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
Agriculture Minister Jim Fairlie told parliament that the government was confident that greyhound racing "on oval tracks exposes dogs to significant risks that cannot be eliminated by other measures".
From BBC ● Mar. 18, 2026
As they descended lower, she could soon see the tops of the city crested over with spring ivy and little oval windows bursting with flower boxes.
From "The Marvellers" by Dhonielle Clayton
Both CEOs have appeared with Trump in the Oval Office and traveled with him to China earlier this year.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 25, 2026
"No I haven't," Trump told journalists in the Oval Office when asked if had made a decision.
From Barron's ● Jul. 24, 2026
“I’ve known Steve for 40 years, and he’s been with me, more or less, one way or the other, every step of the way,” Trump said at Witkoff’s Oval Office swearing-in, in May 2025.
From Slate ● Jul. 22, 2026
“So far, it hasn’t happened. It might happen but we take care of things, if something like that happens,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 21, 2026
From the Oval Office, Nixon announces US military forces have left Vietnam as agreed in the Paris Peace Accords, March 29, 1973.
From "Boots on the Ground: America's War in Vietnam" by Elizabeth Partridge
The Pettit National Ice Center, in Milwaukee, is one of two Olympic-grade long-track ovals in the entire U.S.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 11, 2026
The orange ovals here show how a perfect circle on the globe is distorted depending on where it is located.
From Slate ● Jan. 21, 2026
Schumacher will compete in his first oval races, with six ovals on the 17-race IndyCar schedule, including the feature Indianapolis 500 next May 24.
From Barron's ● Nov. 24, 2025
Based on the observations, the team suspects that the ovals form over the course of about a month and dissipate in a couple of weeks.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 26, 2024
Next to her were a cluster of egg-shaped ovals and smaller water monsters.
From "Healer of the Water Monster" by Brian Young
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.
