Synonyms of elliptical

elliptical

adjective

i-ˈlip-ti-kəl 

variants or elliptic

1

as in cryptic

having an often intentionally veiled or uncertain meaning

the poet's elliptical style is such that the reader often senses that an allusion is being made—but to what exactly?

Synonyms & Similar Words

• cryptic
• ambiguous
• dark
• obscure
• enigmatic
• mystic
• mysterious
• opaque
• esoteric
• vague
• inscrutable
• murky
• nebulous
• unclear
• fuliginous
• occult
• arcane
• questionable
• equivocal
• Delphic
• deep
• obscurant
• uncertain
• shaded
• abstruse
• indirect
• confusing
• weird
• double-edged
• fuzzy
• eerie
• shadowy
• complicated
• recondite
• faint
• indistinct
• foggy
• uncanny
• misty
• complex
• hazy
• cloudy
• invisible
• noncommittal
• concealed
• inexact
• incomprehensible
• indefinite
• indecipherable
• disguised
• undefined
• indistinguishable
• shrouded
• puzzling
• inexplicable
• difficult
• muddy
• cloaked
• sphinxlike
• clouded
• impenetrable
• masked
• roundabout
• obfuscatory
• dim
• bedimmed
• inexplicit
• obtuse
• circuitous
• undetermined
• perplexing
• shadowlike
• baffling
• unanswerable
• intangible
• unknowable
• beclouded
• confounding
• mystifying
• impalpable
• obnubilated
• inappreciable
• bewildering
• unfathomable
• befogged

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• plain
• clear
• obvious
• accessible
• unambiguous
• intelligible
• distinct
• unequivocal
• legible
• certain
• comprehensible
• bright
• evident
• understandable
• strong
• pellucid
• direct
• sure
• firm
• nonambiguous
• defined
• explicit
• knowable
• straightforward
• exact
• definite
• determined
• visible
• self-explanatory
• fathomable
• self-evident
• tangible
• appreciable
• unmistakable
• palpable
• blatant
• patent

2

as in oval

having the shape of an egg

the villa's marble pool is surrounded by an elliptic arrangement of ancient Greek statuary

Synonyms & Similar Words

• oval
• ovate
• ovoid

3

as in concise

marked by the use of few words to convey much information or meaning

his elliptical replies can seem rude to some people, but that's just his way

Synonyms & Similar Words

• concise
• brief
• summary
• epigrammatic
• aphoristic
• monosyllabic
• telegraphic
• pithy
• laconic
• short
• compact
• blunt
• succinct
• terse
• capsule
• curt
• sententious
• compendious
• crisp
• apothegmatic
• condensed
• thumbnail
• abbreviated
• abrupt
• shortened
• brusque
• abridged
• meaningful
• meaty
• curtailed
• substantial
• snippy
• well-turned
• snippety
• significant

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• circuitous
• diffuse
• redundant
• repetitious
• prolix
• wordy
• verbose
• rambling
• windy
• tautological
• enlarged
• circumlocutory
• long-winded
• exaggerated
• inflated
• expanded
• pleonastic
• supplemented
• tautologous
• embroidered
• embellished

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of elliptical

As the festivities kicked off around sunset in the courtyard under the museum’s towering elliptical oculus, Oprah Winfrey hugged Robert De Niro, and Harrison Ford and Calista Flockhart skipped the red carpet after chatting with Spike Lee. — Jessica Gelt, Los Angeles Times, 20 Sep. 2026

Still, there’s much to admire in a film that’s so defiantly elliptical, and that doesn’t care to hand-hold the non-Thai viewer through its maze. — Beatrice Loayza, Variety, 9 Sep. 2026

Other problems include the Birch and Swinnerton-Dyer Conjecture, which relates to elliptic curves, and the Riemann Hypothesis, which relates to prime numbers. — Katrina Bishop, CNBC, 9 Sep. 2026

The researchers report up to three orders of magnitude higher sensitivity than a comparable circular-cross-section optical fiber containing an elliptical core. — Pawel Maniewski, New Atlas, 2 Sep. 2026