ellipticalel‧lip‧ti‧cal /ɪˈlɪptɪkəl/ (also el‧lip‧tic /-tɪk/) adjective 
Word Origin
Kepler published his discovery of the elliptical orbits of planets in 1609.2elliptical speech or writing is difficult to understand because more is meant than is actually said: The language is often elliptical and ambiguous.
Word OriginWORD ORIGINelliptical
ExamplesOrigin:
1600-1700 Greek elleiptikos, from elleipein; ➔ ELLIPSISEXAMPLES FROM OTHER DICTIONARIES
Thesaurus- A striking feature of this architectural style is the elliptical windows.
- Kepler first discovered the elliptical orbits of the planets.
- The earth moves around the sun in an elliptical orbit.
- The theme is often hard to find in his elliptical storytelling
- Compared with the lectures, the book is condensed, elliptical and impatient.
- First, how is successful communication possible despite the fact that many utterances produced are incomplete, elliptical or linguistically ill-formed?
- I gather from the elliptical description that follows that he began to patronize the coffee shop a lot more frequently.
- Karlin relates the oppressive anti-Semitism his forebears endured in a vague, almost elliptical style with dips into the stream of consciousness.
- The blade is as long as the petiole, elliptical, and dark green with very dark nerves.
- The body was supported on three-quarter elliptical springs at the end.
- The Earth is bowl-shaped and elliptical, with a length one and a half times its breadth.
Longman Language Activatorshaped like a circle but with two slightly flat sides► oval
Collocations · In the dining room is a highly polished oval table with matching chairs.· She was a pretty woman with an oval face.
► egg-shaped shaped like an egg, slightly wider at one end: · The chocolates are egg-shaped and full of nuts.
► elliptical shaped like a circle but with two slightly flat sides: · The earth moves around the sun in an elliptical orbit.· A striking feature of this architectural style is the elliptical windows.
WORD SETS► Mathsabacus, nounalgebra, nounangle, nounarc, nounarea, nounarithmetic, nounarithmetic, adjectivearithmetic progression, nounaxis, nounbar chart, nounbar graph, nounbase, nounbinomial, nounbisect, verbBoolean, adjectiveC, nouncalculator, nouncalculus, nouncanonical, adjectivechord, nouncipher, nouncircumference, nouncircumscribe, verbcompass, nouncomplementary, adjectivecomputation, nouncompute, verbconcentric, adjectivecone, nouncongruent, adjectiveconical, adjectiveconstant, nouncontain, verbcoordinate, nouncoordinate, adjectivecos, cosine, nouncube, nouncubic, adjectivecurvature, nouncurve, nouncut, verbdeci-, prefixdeviation, noundiagonal, adjectivediameter, noundifferential calculus, noundigit, noundimension, noundomain, nouneccentric, adjectiveellipse, nounelliptical, adjectiveequal, adjectiveequal, verbequals sign, nounequation, nounequilateral triangle, nounexponential, adjectiveexpress, verbexpression, nounface, nounfigure, nounflow chart, nounformula, nounfraction, nounfractional, adjectivefunction, noungeometric, adjectivegeometry, noungraph, noungraphically, adverbgraph paper, noungrid, nounHCF, helix, nounheptagon, nounhexagon, nounhistogram, nounhypotenuse, nounimperial, adjectiveimproper fraction, nouninfinity, nouninformation theory, nouninnumerate, adjectiveinto, prepositioninverse, adjectiveisosceles triangle, nounline graph, log, nounlogarithm, nounlong division, nounlozenge, nounmath, nounmathematical, adjectivemathematician, nounmathematics, nounmatrix, nounmean, adjectivemedian, nounmedian, adjectivemetric, adjectiveminus, prepositionminus, nounminus, adjectiveminus sign, nounminute, nounmultiplication, nounmultiplication sign, nounmultiplication table, nounmultiply, verbN, nounnumber, nounnumerate, adjectivenumeration, nounoblong, adjectiveobtuse angle, nounoctagon, nounoval, nounparabola, nounparallel, adjectiveparallelogram, nounpentagon, nounpercentage, nounperimeter, nounperpendicular, nounpi, nounpictogram, nounpie chart, nounplane, nounplane geometry, nounplus, prepositionplus, nounplus, adjectiveplus sign, nounpolygon, nounpolyhedron, nounpower, nounprism, nounprobability, nounproof, nounproportion, nounproposition, nounprotractor, nounquadrangle, nounquadrant, nounquadratic equation, nounquadri-, prefixquadrilateral, nounradius, nounratio, nounrectangle, nounrectilinear, adjectiverecur, verbrhombus, nounright angle, nounright-angled triangle, nounroot, nounruler, nounscale, nounscalene triangle, nounscatter diagram, section, nounsegment, nounsemicircle, nounset square, nounsine, nounslide rule, nounsolid, adjectivesolid, nounsolution, nounsolve, verbsphere, nounsquare, adjectivesquare, nounsquare, verbsquare, adverbsquarely, adverbsquare root, nounsubset, nounsubtract, verbsubtraction, nounsum, nounsurface area, nounsymmetrical, adjectivesymmetry, nountangent, nounterm, nountheorem, nounthreefold, adjectivetimes, prepositiontrapezium, nountriangle, nountrigonometry, nountwo-dimensional, adjectivevalue, nounvariable, nounvector, nounVenn diagram, nounvertex, nounvertical, adjectivevolume, nounwork, verbX, nounx-axis, nouny-axis, noun
COLLOCATIONS FROM THE CORPUSNOUN► orbit
1having the shape of an ellipse: · Radial burns can also be used to circularize an elliptical orbit.· In this cumbersome manner the elliptical orbits of the planets could all be defined within the context of the perfect circle.· Kepler published his discovery of the elliptical orbits of planets in 1609.· For example, consider a spacecraft flying in an elliptical orbit and burning its engines at the moment it reaches perigee.
Kepler published his discovery of the elliptical orbits of planets in 1609.2elliptical speech or writing is difficult to understand because more is meant than is actually said: The language is often elliptical and ambiguous.