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elliptical

adjective

  1. in the shape of an ellipse
L32469 on Wikidata ↗

Wiktionary

Pronunciation: /ɪˈlɪp.tɪk.əl/ / /ɪˈlɪp.tɪ.kəl/ / /əˈlɪp.tɪ.kəl/

adj

Etymology: From elliptic + -al, from Ancient Greek ἐλλειπτικός (elleiptikós), from ἐλλείπω (elleípō, “I leave out, omit”).

  1. In a shape of, or reminding of, an ellipse; oval.

    Having admitted that the projectile was describing an orbit around the moon, this orbit must necessarily be elliptical; science proves that it must be so.

  2. Of, or showing ellipsis; having a word or words omitted.

    If he is sometimes elliptical and obscure, it is because he has so much to tell us.

  3. Concise, condensed.

    Browning's dark and elliptical mode of speech, like his love of the grotesque, was simply a characteristic of his, a trick of his temperament, and had little or nothing to do with whether what he was expressing was profound or superficial.

    He was called a tramp; but that was only an elliptical way of saying that he was a philosopher, an artist, a traveller, a naturalist and a discoverer.

  4. Elliptic.

noun

Etymology: From elliptic + -al, from Ancient Greek ἐλλειπτικός (elleiptikós), from ἐλλείπω (elleípō, “I leave out, omit”).

  1. An elliptical galaxy.
  2. An elliptical trainer.