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elliptical

adjective
variants: or elliptic

Synonyms and Antonyms of elliptical

1 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 of elliptical

ambiguous, arcane, cryptic, dark, deep, Delphic, double-edged, enigmatic (also enigmatical), equivocal, fuliginous, inscrutable, murky, mysterious, mystic, nebulous, obscure, occult, opaque
Words Related to elliptical

abstruse, esoteric, recondite

cloaked, concealed, disguised, masked, shrouded

beclouded, bedimmed, befogged, clouded, cloudy, dim, faint, foggy, fuzzy, hazy, indistinct, indistinguishable, misty, muddy, obfuscatory, obnubilated, obscurant (or obscurantic), shaded, shadowlike, shadowy, sphinxlike

indefinite, inexact, inexplicit, noncommittal, questionable, unclear, uncertain, undefined, undetermined, vague

impenetrable, incomprehensible, indecipherable, inexplicable

eerie (also eery), uncanny, weird

impalpable, inappreciable, intangible, invisible

unanswerable, unknowable

baffling, bewildering, confounding, confusing, mystifying, perplexing, puzzling, unfathomable

circuitous, indirect, roundabout

complex, complicated, difficult, obtuse
Near Antonyms of elliptical

comprehensible, fathomable, intelligible, knowable, legible, pellucid, understandable

bright, distinct, evident, self-evident, self-explanatory

certain, firm, strong, sure

defined, determined

direct, straightforward

definite, exact, explicit

appreciable, palpable, tangible, visible

blatant, patent, unmistakable
Antonyms of elliptical

accessible, clear, nonambiguous, obvious, plain, unambiguous, unequivocal

2 having the shape of an egg

  • the villaʼs marble pool is surrounded by an elliptic arrangement of ancient Greek statuary
Synonyms of elliptical

oval, ovate, ovoid (also ovoidal)

3 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 of elliptical

aphoristic, apothegmatic, brief, capsule, compact, compendious, concise, crisp, curt, epigrammatic, laconic, monosyllabic, pithy, sententious, succinct, summary, telegraphic, terse, thumbnail
Words Related to elliptical

abrupt, blunt, brusque (also brusk), short, snippety, snippy

abbreviated, abridged, condensed, curtailed, shortened

meaty, substantial

meaningful, significant

well-turned
Near Antonyms of elliptical

pleonastic, redundant, repetitious, tautological, tautologous

enlarged, expanded, supplemented

embellished, embroidered, exaggerated, inflated
Antonyms of elliptical

circuitous, circumlocutory, diffuse, long-winded, prolix, rambling, verbose, windy, wordy

Learn More about elliptical

  1. Dictionary: Definition of elliptical Spanish Central: Translation of elliptical Nglish: Translation of elliptical for Spanish speakers Britannica English: Translation of elliptical for Arabic speakers

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