elliptical
pertaining to or having the form of an ellipse.
pertaining to or marked by grammatical ellipsis.
(of speech or writing) expressed with extreme or excessive economy; relieved of irrelevant matter: to converse in elliptical sentences.
(of a style of speaking or writing) tending to be ambiguous, cryptic, or obscure: an elliptical prose that is difficult to translate.
Astronomy. elliptical galaxy.
Origin of elliptical
1Other words from elliptical
- el·lip·ti·cal·ness, noun
- non·el·lip·tic, adjective
- non·el·lip·ti·cal, adjective
- non·el·lip·ti·cal·ly, adverb
- o·ver·el·lip·ti·cal, adjective
- o·ver·el·lip·ti·cal·ly, adverb
- sub·el·lip·tic, adjective
- sub·el·lip·ti·cal, adjective
- un·el·lip·ti·cal, adjective
Words Nearby elliptical
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use elliptical in a sentence
They don’t live inside your elliptical at home, and if you’re walking down the street alone, they won’t just infest your airways.
The safest ways to exercise during a pandemic | Sara Kiley Watson | September 9, 2020 | Popular-ScienceFor extra credit, you looked at Al-Battani Island, which was elliptical rather than rectangular.
The subjects were shown two at once, and were asked to choose, as quickly as possible, which one was actually the elliptical one.
This Vision Experiment Resolved a Centuries-Old Philosophical Debate - Facts So Romantic | Jim Davies | August 14, 2020 | NautilusIf we discard the elliptical eye-image, though, that should keep your decision from slowing down.
This Vision Experiment Resolved a Centuries-Old Philosophical Debate - Facts So Romantic | Jim Davies | August 14, 2020 | NautilusThe first is that the elliptical shape is abandoned early on in visual processing, replaced with belief that the manhole cover is circular, along with its orientation, color, and so on.
This Vision Experiment Resolved a Centuries-Old Philosophical Debate - Facts So Romantic | Jim Davies | August 14, 2020 | Nautilus
“I would go with yoga, light weight training or some elliptical,” he says.
The real heavyweights, though, are two giant elliptical galaxies known as NGC 4874 and NGC 4889.
Some of the mutterings of Rust Cohle come from the perfectly elliptical and safely imprecise musings of Thomas Ligotti.
‘True Detective,’ Obsessive-Compulsive Noir, and ‘Twin Peaks’ | Jimmy So | March 14, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTMy wife, at least, enjoys watching me flail about on our elliptical.
23andMe and Me: Why Policymakers Should Set the Genetic Testing Company Free | Charles C. Johnson | February 4, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTThe same goes for the elliptical machine hunger strike, which also comes off as tonally deficient, to say the least.
‘Camp X-Ray,’ A Kristen Stewart-Starring Guantanamo Bay Film, Premieres at Sundance | Marlow Stern | January 18, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTIn an orbit made elliptical by the planetary attraction the sun necessarily occupies one of the foci of the ellipse.
Outlines of the Earth's History | Nathaniel Southgate ShalerEre liueEre I should live is required in full by strict grammar, but Fields verse is frequently elliptical.
The Fatal Dowry | Philip MassingerExclamation is an expression of strong emotion in abrupt, inverted, or elliptical phrases.
English: Composition and Literature | W. F. (William Franklin) WebsterThe entrance was a rather large elliptical arch; a man could enter by stooping.
Toilers of the Sea | Victor HugoThe door was usually a piece of skin stretched over an elliptical frame.
Prairie Smoke (Second Edition, Revised) | Melvin Randolph Gilmore
British Dictionary definitions for elliptical
/ (ɪˈlɪptɪkəl) /
relating to or having the shape of an ellipse
relating to or resulting from ellipsis
(of speech, literary style, etc)
very condensed or concise, often so as to be obscure or ambiguous
circumlocutory or long-winded
- Also (for senses 1, 2): elliptic
usage For elliptical
Derived forms of elliptical
- elliptically, adverb
- ellipticalness, noun
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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