as in oval
a shape that resembles a flattened circle
The teacher drew an ellipse on the chalkboard that intended to illustrate the moon's orbit around the Earth.
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Recent Examples of ellipse
All planets orbit stars in an ellipse.
—
Jamie Carter, Forbes, 4 Jan. 2025
Perihelion occurs because the Earth’s path around the sun is not a perfect circle, but rather an ellipse, whereby the distance between the planet and the sun changes during the year.
—Samantha Mathewson, Space.com, 21 Dec. 2024
Since the moon’s orbital path around Earth is a slight ellipse, there’s a near-point (perigee) and a far-point (apogee) every month.
—Jamie Carter, Forbes, 18 Oct. 2024
The moon’s orbital path around Earth is a slight ellipse, so there’s a near-point (perigee) and a far-point (apogee) every month.
—Jamie Carter, Forbes, 13 Oct. 2024
See All Example Sentences for ellipse
Jamie Carter, Forbes, 4 Jan. 2025
Perihelion occurs because the Earth’s path around the sun is not a perfect circle, but rather an ellipse, whereby the distance between the planet and the sun changes during the year.
—Samantha Mathewson, Space.com, 21 Dec. 2024
Since the moon’s orbital path around Earth is a slight ellipse, there’s a near-point (perigee) and a far-point (apogee) every month.
—Jamie Carter, Forbes, 18 Oct. 2024
The moon’s orbital path around Earth is a slight ellipse, so there’s a near-point (perigee) and a far-point (apogee) every month.
—Jamie Carter, Forbes, 13 Oct. 2024
See All Example Sentences for ellipse
Recent Examples of Synonyms for ellipse
Noun
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The Earth's magnetic field guides the electrons so that the aurora forms two ovals centered around the magnetic poles.—
Ross Rosenfeld,
MSNBC Newsweek,
22 Apr. 2025
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The Kp index — which provides a rough guide to the intensity of aurora displays — may reach 5 or 6, which will see the auroral oval stretch farther south.—
Jamie Carter,
Forbes.com,
20 Apr. 2025
Noun
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White House Easter egg roll: How to watch the event that will use 30,000 real eggs The country's largest tech companies make up some of the corporate sponsors, according to a list released by the White House, including Amazon, Meta and YouTube.—
Joey Garrison,
USA Today,
22 Apr. 2025
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Well, the Easter Bunny has come and gone, leaving us to clean up all these eggs.—
Erik Kain,
Forbes.com,
21 Apr. 2025
Noun
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In the film, Jason Momoa’s Garrett Garrison has to battle the chicken jockey on the way to finding the orb that can take him back to the real world.—
Esther Zuckerman,
New York Times,
10 Apr. 2025
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Abyssal Edge – This sword is Strand, and that works with the Unraveling Orbs artifact mod that gives Strand weapons Unraveling Rounds on orb pickup which works with Flash Counter damage.—
Paul Tassi,
Forbes,
20 Mar. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Ellipse.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/ellipse. Accessed 1 May. 2025.
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