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# elliptical

«elliptical» in Mova's school dictionary: **Shaped like an ellipse, a stretched circle or oval, as in…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 1 sentence of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

adjective (elliptical); adverb elliptically; noun (an elliptical — US, an exercise machine)

### meaning for a pupil

1) (maths) Shaped like an ellipse, a stretched circle or oval, as in «an elliptical orbit». [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/E/elliptical/#m1)

2) (language) Leaving out words that the listener can guess, as in «Coming?» instead of «Are you coming?». [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/E/elliptical/#m2)

3) Said in a way that is hard to understand because it is not direct. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/E/elliptical/#m3)

4) (US, noun) An exercise machine where you move your legs in an oval path. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/E/elliptical/#m4)

### sense in the lessons

In science lessons, planets move around the Sun in elliptical (oval) orbits, not perfect circles. In maths, an ellipse is a curved closed shape like a squashed circle. In English grammar, «ellipsis» is leaving words out, and «…» is also called an ellipsis.

### examples

- Earth travels around the Sun in an elliptical orbit. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/E/elliptical/#x1)
- The running track is elliptical. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/E/elliptical/#x2)
- We drew an elliptical shape using two pins and a loop of string. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/E/elliptical/#x3)
- «Ready?» is an elliptical way of saying «Are you ready?» [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/E/elliptical/#x4)
- His answer was so elliptical that no one understood it. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/E/elliptical/#x5)
- Mum uses the elliptical at the gym. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/E/elliptical/#x6)

### note

Also «elliptic» in higher maths. Noun «ellipse» (the shape) and «ellipsis» (missing words, or «…»). Earth's orbit is only slightly elliptical, so it is very close to a circle; seasons are caused by Earth's tilt, not its distance from the Sun.

### In the corpora

- [Galaxies come in main shapes: spirals like ours, round or oval ellipticals, and shapeless irregulars.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/space/24-galaxies-and-the-big-bang/8/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «elliptical» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/E/elliptical/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.