orbital
Americanadjective
noun
adjective
-
of or denoting an orbit
-
(of a motorway or major road circuit) circling a large city
noun
-
a region surrounding an atomic nucleus in which the probability distribution of the electrons is given by a wave function
-
an orbital road
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of orbital
1535–45; < New Latin, Medieval Latin orbitālis; see orbit, -al 1
Compare meaning
How does orbital compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:
Explanation
Something that's orbital has something to do with an orbit. A satellite's orbital path is the exact route it takes as it travels around the Earth. When planets, moons, or spacecraft move around other objects in an orbit — a curved, regular path — you can describe this movement as orbital. An orbital period is the length of time it takes a craft or body to make a complete pass around the object it orbits. Another way to use this adjective is to mean "relating to an eye socket," which is actually its earliest meaning. The Latin root is orbita, "wheel track, beaten path, course, or orbit."
Vocabulary lists containing orbital
Chemistry - High School
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Chemistry - Middle School
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Katherine Johnson (1918–2020) Tribute List
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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.
Wood Mackenzie, a research firm, estimates that a one-gigawatt orbital data center would cost $170 billion, more than triple the cost of a traditional data center.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 24, 2026
The tighter the binary, the shorter the orbital period and the faster a tidally locked star must rotate.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 23, 2026
The spacewalk is scheduled to start at 1235 GMT and last six and a half hours, with the goal of replacing a space-to-ground antenna on the orbital complex, according to NASA.
From Barron's ● Aug. 18, 2026
The researchers used publicly available orbital information from Starlink satellites and applied tomography, a technique commonly associated with medical imaging, to Earth's upper atmosphere.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 12, 2026
When that happens, an orbital electron drops down from a higher shell to fill the gap in the K shell.
From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik
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.
