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Circle vs Elliptical - What's the difference?

circle | elliptical |

As nouns the difference between circle and elliptical

is that circle is (lb) a two-dimensional geometric figure, a line, consisting of the set of all those points in a plane that are equally distant from another point while elliptical is (astronomy) an elliptical galaxy.

As a verb circle

is to travel around along a curved path.

As an adjective elliptical is

in a shape reminding of an ellipse; oval.

circle

English

(wikipedia circle)

Noun

(en noun)
  • (lb) A two-dimensional geometric figure, a line, consisting of the set of all those points in a plane that are equally distant from another point.
  • :The set of all points (x'', ''y'') such that (x-1)2 + y2 = r2 is a circle of radius ''r around
  • A two-dimensional geometric figure, a disk, consisting of the set of all those points of a plane at a distance less than or equal to a fixed distance from another point.
  • Any thin three-dimensional equivalent of the geometric figures.
  • :
  • A curve that more or less forms part or all of a circle.
  • :
  • Orbit.
  • A specific group of persons.
  • :
  • * (1800-1859)
  • *:As his name gradually became known, the circle of his acquaintance widened.
  • *
  • *:At half-past nine on this Saturday evening, the parlour of the Salutation Inn, High Holborn, contained most of its customary visitors.In former days every tavern of repute kept such a room for its own select circle , a club, or society, of habitués, who met every evening, for a pipe and a cheerful glass.
  • *
  • *:“I don't mean all of your friends—only a small proportion—which, however, connects your circle with that deadly, idle, brainless bunch—the insolent chatterers at the opera, the gorged dowagers,, the jewelled animals whose moral code is the code of the barnyard—!"
  • *1922 , (Margery Williams), (The Velveteen Rabbit)
  • *:The Rabbit could not claim to be a model of anything, for he didn’t know that real rabbits existed; he thought they were all stuffed with sawdust like himself, and he understood that sawdust was quite out-of-date and should never be mentioned in modern circles .
  • (lb) A line comprising two semicircles of 30 yards radius centred on the wickets joined by straight lines parallel to the pitch used to enforce field restrictions in a one-day match.
  • (lb) A ritual circle that is cast three times deosil and closes three times widdershins either in the air with a wand or literally with stones or other items used for worship.
  • (lb) A traffic circle or roundabout.
  • *2011 , Charles E. Webb, Downfall and Freedom , p.120:
  • *:He arrived at the lakefront and drove around the circle where the amusement park and beach used to be when he was a kid
  • (lb) Compass; circuit; enclosure.
  • *(William Shakespeare) (c.1564–1616)
  • *:in the circle of this forest
  • (lb) An instrument of observation, whose graduated limb consists of an entire circle. When fixed to a wall in an observatory, it is called a mural circle''; when mounted with a telescope on an axis and in Y's, in the plane of the meridian, a ''meridian'' or ''transit circle''; when involving the principle of reflection, like the sextant, a ''reflecting circle''; and when that of repeating an angle several times continuously along the graduated limb, a ''repeating circle .
  • A series ending where it begins, and repeating itself.
  • *(John Dryden) (1631-1700)
  • *:Thus in a circle runs the peasant's pain.
  • (lb) A form of argument in which two or more unproved statements are used to prove each other; inconclusive reasoning.
  • *(Joseph Glanvill) (1636-1680)
  • *:That heavy bodies descend by gravity; and, again, that gravity is a quality whereby a heavy body descends, is an impertinent circle and teaches nothing.
  • Indirect form of words; circumlocution.
  • * (1579-1625)
  • *:Has he given the lie, / In circle , or oblique, or semicircle.
  • A territorial division or district.
  • :
  • Synonyms

    * (two-dimensional outline geometric figure) coil (not in mathematical use), ring (not in mathematical use), loop (not in mathematical use) * (two-dimensional solid geometric figure) disc/disk (in mathematical and general use), round (not in mathematical use; UK & Commonwealth only ) * (curve) arc, curve * (orbit) orbit * (a specific group of persons) bunch, gang, group

    Derived terms

    * arctic circle

    Verb

    (circl)
  • To travel around along a curved path.
  • * Alexander Pope
  • Other planets circle other suns.
  • To surround.
  • * Dampier
  • Their heads are circled with a short turban.
  • * Coleridge
  • So he lies, circled with evil.
  • To place or mark a circle around.
  • Circle the jobs that you are interested in applying for.
  • To travel in circles.
  • Vultures circled overhead.

    Derived terms

    * circle the drain

    elliptical

    English

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • In a shape reminding of an ellipse; oval.
  • * 1876 , Edward Roth (translator), ,
  • 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.
  • 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. --
  • (of speech) Concise, condensed.
  • * 1903 , ,
  • 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. , , 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.
  • (mathematics, rare)
  • Being flat and in the shape of a twice-symmetrical ellipse; oval.
  • Synonyms

    * 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.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (astronomy) An elliptical galaxy
  • An elliptical trainer