Oval vs Elliptical - What's the difference?
oval | elliptical |
In a shape reminding of an ellipse; oval.
* 1876 , Edward Roth (translator), ,
Of, or showing ellipsis; having a word or words omitted.
(of speech) Concise, condensed.
* 1903 , ,
* early XX c. , , by O. Henry
(mathematics, rare)
Being flat and in the shape of a twice-symmetrical ellipse; oval.
As nouns the difference between oval and elliptical
is that oval is a shape rather like an egg or an ellipse while elliptical is an elliptical galaxy.As adjectives the difference between oval and elliptical
is that oval is having the shape of an oval while elliptical is in a shape reminding of an ellipse; oval.As a proper noun Oval
is a cricket ground in South London.oval
English
Usage notes
* Note: an ellipse is a precise mathematical shape, but an oval is not.Derived terms
* ovaline * ovalish * ovallyUsage notes
The adjectives oval, ovate, and ovoid all come from roots meaning "egg-shaped". They are usually denotatively synonymous. A connotation of one end being bigger than the other (which is often true of eggs) may or may not be implied. Of the three, oval is the one mostly likely to connote a symmetrical ellipse.elliptical
English
Adjective
(en adjective)- 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.
- If he is sometimes elliptical and obscure, it is because he has so much to tell us. --
- 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.
- 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.