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Oval vs Opal - What's the difference?

oval | opal |

As nouns the difference between oval and opal

is that oval is oval while opal is opal.

oval

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • A shape rather like an egg or an ellipse.
  • A sporting arena etc. of this shape.

    • Usage notes

    * Note: an ellipse is a precise mathematical shape, but an oval is not.

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Having the shape of an oval.
  • Of or pertaining to an ovum.
    • oval conceptions

    Derived terms

    * ovaline * ovalish * ovally

    Usage 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.

    opal

    English

    (wikipedia opal)

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (mineralogy) A mineral consisting, like quartz, of silica, but inferior to quartz in hardness and specific gravity, of the chemical formula Si]]O2· n[[water, H2O.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2012-03
    • , author=Lee A. Groat , title=Gemstones , volume=100, issue=2, page=128 , magazine=(American Scientist) citation , passage=Although there are dozens of different types of gems, among the best known and most important are […] . (Common gem materials not addressed in this article include amber, amethyst, chalcedony, garnet, lazurite, malachite, opals , peridot, rhodonite, spinel, tourmaline, turquoise and zircon.)}}
  • (biology, genetics, biochemistry) A colloquial name used in molecular biology referring to a particular stop codon sequence, "UGA."

    • Derived terms

    * fire opal * wood opal * opaline * opalesce

    References

    Anagrams

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