Elliptical definitions and example sentences on Wordnik

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I was sweating away my own business on that horrid torture device called the elliptical, which is supposed to simulate running but is really just another giant gerbil toy that contorts my old-before-their-time hips in unnatural ways, when the guy next to me asks me what I think about VP candidate Sarah Palin.

—Yo, Yenta!

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Definitions (2)

American Heritage Dictionary

Century Dictionary

GNU Webster's 1913

WordNet (2)

characterized by extreme economy of expression or omission of superfluous elements
rounded like an egg

Elsewhere on the web

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Examples (50)

Only 130 long-period orbits are defined as being elliptical, and all of these range upward of e = 0.995. — Analog July, 1974
The short series is trippy and elliptical, a favorite among those who enjoy a weird intellectual puzzle. — Asimov's SF - February2006
The hover was elliptical, about five meters tall in front sweeping backward to a tapered edge, but otherwise featureless. — Gardner Dozois - The Year's Best Science Fiction 23rd Annual Collection (2006)
You will be at a loss to know whether it is ‘really’ circular or elliptical, and you will be confined to saying what it ‘looks like’. — My Philosophical Development
In the north, maybe 20 degrees, off the horizon, we saw three white objects--elliptical, like a quarter moon but a little larger--with blue, green, and red lights on them, making sharp, angular movements. — Omni: April 1994