elliptical

Definition

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

Etymology

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

Example Sentences

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