ellipsoid
Noun · AdjectiveOpen English WordNet
Noun (1)
- a surface whose plane sections are all ellipses or circles“the Earth is an ellipsoid”Type of plane figure, two-dimensional figure
Adjective (1)
- having the nature or shape of an ellipsoidSynonyms: ellipsoidalspheroidalOpposite angularSimilar rounded
a state or condition markedly different from the norm
Webster's Dictionary (1913)
Origin: Ellipse + -oid: cf. F. ellipsoide.
Geometry A solid, all plane sections of which are ellipses or circles. See Conoid, noun, 2 (a).
☞ The ellipsoid has three principal plane sections, a, b, and c, each at right angles to the other two, and each dividing the solid into two equal and symmetrical parts. The lines of meeting of these principal sections are the axes, or principal diameters of the ellipsoid. The point where the three planes meet is the center.
Ellipsoid of revolution, a spheroid; a solid figure generated by the revolution of an ellipse about one of its axes. It is called a prolate spheroid, or prolatum, when the ellipse is revolved about the major axis, and an oblate spheroid, or oblatum, when it is revolved about the minor axis.
Pertaining to, or shaped like, an ellipsoid; as, ellipsoid or ellipsoidal form.
Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913), from GCIDE 0.54