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orbital

American  
[awr-bi-tl] / ˈɔr bɪ tl /

adjective

  1. of or relating to an orbit.


noun

  1. Physics, Chemistry.

    1. a wave function describing the state of a single electron in an atom atomic orbital or in a molecule molecular orbital.

    2. the electron in that state.

orbital British  
/ ˈɔːbɪtəl /

adjective

  1. of or denoting an orbit

  2. (of a motorway or major road circuit) circling a large city

"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

noun

  1. a region surrounding an atomic nucleus in which the probability distribution of the electrons is given by a wave function

  2. an orbital road

"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

Other Word Forms

  • interorbital adjective
  • interorbitally adverb
  • orbitally adverb
  • preorbital adjective
  • superorbital adjective
  • transorbital adjective
  • unorbital adjective
  • unorbitally adverb

Etymology

Origin of orbital

1535–45; < New Latin, Medieval Latin orbitālis; orbit, -al 1

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Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Titan's slightly elongated orbit can disturb inner moons when their orbital periods become simple fractions of Titan's.

From Science Daily

By combining these in a single system, the tool would help mission designers understand the trade‑offs between data quality and orbital safety.

From BBC

SpaceX, his rocket-launch company, wants government permission for a constellation consisting of a million satellites that could be used for orbital data centers.

From MarketWatch

These include the small number of satellites and tracking stations, the high orbital altitude of the satellites, which restricts detection to broad gravitational patterns, and the relatively low resolution of the gravitational measurements.

From Science Daily

The findings demonstrate how powerful orbital observations can be for uncovering the hidden structure and long term evolution of volcanic systems, both on Mars and on other rocky worlds.

From Science Daily