different between oval vs elliptical

English

Etymology

From Late Latin ovalis, from ovum; cognate with French and Italian ovale, Dutch ovaal. From 1570.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /???v?l/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?o?v?l/
• Rhymes: -??v?l

Noun

oval (plural ovals)

1. An elongated round shape resembling an egg or ellipse.
2. A thing having such a shape, such as an arena.
3. (mathematics) In a projective plane, a set of points such that no three are collinear and there is a unique tangent line at each point.
4. (Australia) A sports field, typically but not exclusively oval in shape.

Derived terms

• hyperoval
• roval

Translations

Adjective

oval (comparative more oval, superlative most oval)

1. Having the shape of an oval.
2. Of or pertaining to an ovum.

   oval conceptions

Synonyms

• ovular, ovate, ovoid, ovaline, elliptical, egg-shaped

Usage notes

Any of the English adjectives derived from Latin ovum (including oval, ovate, ovoid) are typically considered synonymous when referring to egg-like shapes where one end is wider than the other but, out of all of them, oval is the most likely to be used in reference to a symmetrical ellipse.

Derived terms

• bioval
• circumoval
• ovaline
• ovalish
• ovally
• perioval
• plurioval
• monoval
• unioval

Translations

See also

• ovoid
• ovum

Anagrams

• vola

Asturian

Adjective

oval (epicene, plural ovales)

1. oval (oval-shaped)

Synonyms

• ovaláu

Catalan

Etymology

ou +? -al

Pronunciation

• (Balearic, Valencian) IPA^(key): /o?val/
• (Central) IPA^(key): /u?bal/

Adjective

oval (masculine and feminine plural ovals)

1. oval

   Synonym: ovalat

Noun

oval m (plural ovals)

1. oval

Related terms

• ovoide

Further reading

• “oval” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “oval” in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana.
• “oval” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “oval” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

German

Pronunciation

Adjective

oval (comparative ovaler, superlative am ovalsten)

1. oval

Synonyms

• eiförmig
• eirund

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

From Latin ovalis, from ovum (“egg”)

Adjective

oval (neuter singular ovalt, definite singular and plural ovale)

1. oval

Noun

oval m (definite singular ovalen, indefinite plural ovaler, definite plural ovalene)

1. an oval

Derived terms

• ovalformet

References

• “oval” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From Latin ovalis, from ovum (“egg”)

Adjective

oval (neuter singular ovalt, definite singular and plural ovale)

1. oval

Noun

oval m (definite singular ovalen, indefinite plural ovalar, definite plural ovalane)

1. an oval

References

• “oval” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Portuguese

Adjective

oval m or f (plural ovais, comparable)

1. oval (shaped like an egg)

   Synonyms: ovalado, ovoide

Romanian

Etymology

From French ovale

Adjective

oval m or n (feminine singular oval?, masculine plural ovali, feminine and neuter plural ovale)

1. oval

Declension

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /o?bal/, [o???al]

Adjective

oval (plural ovales)

1. oval (shaped like an oval)

   Synonym: ovalado

Related terms

• óvalo
• ovoide
• ovalado
• huevo

Further reading

• “oval” in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014.

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