elliptical

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Published when its author was 28 years old, the slim, elliptical volume played a central role in Camus winning the Nobel Prize for literature at a time when that distinction still meant something.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 2, 2026

Some exoplanets follow highly elliptical orbits, meaning the amount of heat they receive from their star changes significantly over time.

From Science Daily • Mar. 25, 2026

Supermoon's occur because the Moon's orbit around Earth is not perfectly circular, but slightly elliptical - meaning it is sometimes closer to us than at other times.

From BBC • Dec. 5, 2025

Librettist Gene Scheer distilled Michael Chabon’s sprawling, Pulitzer Prize-winning book from 2000 into a straightforward, primary-colored plot, losing much of its magical, elliptical atmosphere.

From The Wall Street Journal • Sep. 23, 2025

Having discovered almost by accident that elliptical orbits fit the observations well, he could not reconcile them with his idea that the planets were made to orbit the sun by magnetic forces.

From "A Brief History of Time: And Other Essays" by Stephen Hawking