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Withering vs Elliptical - What's the difference?

withering | elliptical |

As adjectives the difference between withering and elliptical

is that withering is tending to destroy, devastate, overwhelm or cause complete destruction while elliptical is in a shape reminding of an ellipse; oval.

As nouns the difference between withering and elliptical

is that withering is the act of something that withers while elliptical is (astronomy) an elliptical galaxy.

As a verb withering

is .

withering

English

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • Tending to destroy, devastate, overwhelm or cause complete destruction.
    • The D-Day troops came under withering fire .
  • Diminishing rapidly.
    • The playboy seemed oblivious to his withering fortune as he continued in his decadent lifestyle .
  • Tending to make someone feel small; scornful in a mortifying way.
    • Jane's mother in law gave her a withering look .
    He made withering remarks about his adversary .

    Verb

    (head)

    • Noun

    (en noun)
  • The act of something that withers.
  • * 1839 , William Jenkyn, ?James Sherman, An Exposition Upon the Epistle of Jude (page 274)
    • Spiritual witherings and decayings are opposite to the word of God.

    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