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
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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.
“Data centers in space looking pretty appealing right now,” Musk wrote in a post on X, referring to his plan to eventually operate orbital satellites that can function as data centers.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 4, 2026
Its estimated orbital distance is only about twice the red supergiant's radius.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 4, 2026
The impact blasted debris as far as 10,000 kilometers into space and shortened the asteroid's orbital period around Didymos by roughly 33 minutes.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 3, 2026
Blue Origin, Google, Cowboy Space and others have all said they plan to build orbital data centers, which would likely consist of hundreds of thousands of satellites.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 2, 2026
The farther away a planet, the greater its orbital period.
From "Sir Fig Newton and the Science of Persistence" by Sonja Thomas
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
