elliptical

WOTD - 6 July 2008    

English

Alternative forms

• elliptic

Etymology

From elliptic + -al.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA: /ɪˈlɪp.tɪk.əl/
• (US) IPA: /ɪˈlɪp.tɪ.kəl/, /əˈlɪp.tɪ.kəl/

• Audio (US)

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Adjective

elliptical (comparative more elliptical, superlative most elliptical)

1. In a shape reminding of an ellipse; oval.
   • 1876, Edward Roth (translator), All Around the Moon, Chapter XIX,

     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. -- Edmund Wilson

3. (of speech) Concise, condensed.
   • 1903, Gilbert Keith Chesterton, Robert Browning, Chapter VI,

     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.

4. (mathematics, rare) Alternative form of elliptic.

Usage notes

• In botanical usage, elliptic(al) refers only to the general shape of the leaf, independently of its apex or margin (and sometimes the base), so that an "elliptic leaf" may very well be pointed at both ends.

Translations

in shape reminding of an ellipse, oval

Bengali: উপবৃত্তাকার (bn) Bulgarian: елиптичен (bg) Dutch: elliptisch (nl) French: elliptique (fr) Polish: eliptyczny (pl) m.

Portuguese: elíptico (pt) Russian: эллиптический (ru) (elliptíčeskij) Spanish: elíptico (es) Swedish: elliptisk (sv)

showing ellipsis

Dutch: elliptisch (nl) French: elliptique (fr)

Polish: eliptyczny (pl) m. Russian: эллиптический (ru) (elliptíčeskij)

Noun

elliptical (plural ellipticals)

1. (astronomy) An elliptical galaxy
2. An elliptical trainer