different between perplexing vs elliptical

English

Pronunciation

• (US) enPR: p?rpl?ks'?ng, IPA^(key): /p??pl?ks??/

Adjective

perplexing (comparative more perplexing, superlative most perplexing)

1. confusing or puzzling
2. bewildering

Translations

Verb

perplexing

1. present participle of perplex

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