different between elliptical vs ellipse

English

Etymology

elliptic +? -al, from Ancient Greek ??????????? (elleiptikós), from ??????? (elleíp?, “I leave out, omit”). Surface analysis ellipse +? -ical.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /??l?p.t?k.?l/
• (US) IPA^(key): /??l?p.t?.k?l/, /??l?p.t?.k?l/

Adjective

elliptical (comparative more elliptical, superlative most elliptical)

1. In a shape of, or 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.

   • early XX c., The Making of a New Yorker, by O. Henry

     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. (mathematics, rare) Elliptic.

Usage notes

• In botanical usage, elliptic(al) refers only to the general shape of the object (usually a leaf), independently of its apex or margin (and sometimes the base), so that an "elliptic leaf" may very well be pointed at both ends. A three-dimensional elliptical object is ellipsoid, while an object that is not a perfectly stretched circle is ovoid or obovoid.

Synonyms

• elliptic

Translations

Noun

elliptical (plural ellipticals)

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

Translations

English

Etymology

From French ellipse. Doublet of ellipsis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??l?ps/, /i?l?ps/

Noun

ellipse (plural ellipses)

1. (geometry) A closed curve, the locus of a point such that the sum of the distances from that point to two other fixed points (called the foci of the ellipse) is constant; equivalently, the conic section that is the intersection of a cone with a plane that does not intersect the base of the cone.

Synonyms

• oval (in non-technical use)

Translations

Verb

ellipse (third-person singular simple present ellipses, present participle ellipsing, simple past and past participle ellipsed)

1. (grammar) To remove from a phrase a word which is grammatically needed, but which is clearly understood without having to be stated.

   In B's response to A's question:- (A: Would you like to go out?, B: I'd love to), the words that are ellipsed are go out.

Related terms

See also

• circle
• conic section
• hyperbola
• parabola

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin ell?psis, itself a borrowing from Ancient Greek ???????? (élleipsis).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /e.lips/

Noun

ellipse f (plural ellipses)

1. (geometry) ellipse
2. (grammar, rhetoric) ellipsis

Further reading

• “ellipse” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Latin

Noun

ellipse

1. ablative singular of ellipsis

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

From Latin ellipsis, from Ancient Greek ???????? (élleipsis)

Noun

ellipse m (definite singular ellipsen, indefinite plural ellipser, definite plural ellipsene)

1. (geometry) an ellipse
2. (grammar, rhetoric, typography) an ellipsis

Derived terms

• superellipse

References

• “ellipse” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From Latin ellipsis, from Ancient Greek ???????? (élleipsis)

Noun

ellipse m (definite singular ellipsen, indefinite plural ellipsar, definite plural ellipsane)

1. (geometry) an ellipse
2. (grammar, rhetoric, typography) an ellipsis

Derived terms

• superellipse

References

• “ellipse” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.