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
- 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
Compare meaning
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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.
A planet's motion through space also affects how time passes, with orbital speed contributing additional changes.
From Science Daily
But China’s first attempt to land a first stage from an orbital launch ended with the booster hurtling down to Earth and narrowly missing its landing pad.
From MarketWatch
By studying high resolution orbital images, the research team examined the Martian landscape and found signs of ice less than 1 meter below the surface in Amazonis Planitia.
From Science Daily
Marty tosses out the bald-faced lie that his mother died in childbirth with the nonchalance of ordering another coffee, before the orbital pull in the room shifts.
From Salon
The launch is a boost for India's ambitious low-cost space programme, with plans for an uncrewed orbital mission and human spaceflight in the coming years.
From Barron's
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.
