Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun Deviation from perfect circular or spherical form toward elliptic or ellipsoidal form.
- noun The degree of this deviation.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun The quality of being elliptic; the degree of divergence of an ellipse from the circle; specifically, in reference to the figure of the earth, the difference between the equatorial and polar semi-diameters divided by the equatorial: as, the ellipticity of the earth is .
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun Deviation of an ellipse or a spheroid from the form of a circle or a sphere; especially, in reference to the figure of the earth, the difference between the equatorial and polar semidiameters, divided by the equatorial; thus, the
ellipticity of the earth is 1/29966.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun uncountable The condition of being
elliptical (flattened from perfectcircular orspherical form) - noun countable, mathematics A measure of this
flattening that is afunction of theellipse 'sequatorial andpolar radii
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun the property possessed by a round shape that is flattened at the poles
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word ellipticity.
Examples
-
AFAIU the ellipticity of an egg is due to the pressures from the surrounding egg canal in which it is transported in during its assembly.
What's the Internet Really Like in Space? | Universe Today 2010
-
AFAIU the ellipticity of an egg is due to the pressures from the surrounding egg canal in which it is transported in during its assembly.
What's the Internet Really Like in Space? | Universe Today 2010
-
He granted that the proposition connected mathematically the inverse square law to the ellipticity of the course of the planets.
Explanation in Mathematics Mancosu, Paolo 2008
-
(Sometimes circularity is called or confused with ellipticity, but I prefer the former.)
What is Your Equation? Sean 2007
-
This week, Nathalie Kellens (KULeuven) and Patrick Degryse (Physico-Chemical Geology, KULeuven) classified debris from smithing activities retrieved from the urban and territorial surveys and from the excavations within the city center according to weight, volume, density, mineralogy, chemistry, ellipticity, flatness, position in the smithing hearth and profile of the cakes.
Interactive Dig Sagalassos - Metallurgical Studies Report 2 2003
-
The orbits of Mercury and Mars have an appearance of ellipticity because the sun does not occupy the central point in the diagram.
To Mars via The Moon An Astronomical Story Mark Wicks
-
Further, Descartes was unable to give, or explain the ellipticity of the orbits of planets, and had to assume that there were elliptic vortices.
Aether and Gravitation William George Hooper
-
The ellipticity of the orbit, according to this view, was caused by the planet oscillating about a mean position, -- sinking first into the dense ether, -- then, on account of superior buoyancy, rising into too light a medium.
Outlines of a Mechanical Theory of Storms Containing the True Law of Lunar Influence T. Bassnett
-
H. Foster's pendulum-experiments, deducing from them an ellipticity for the earth of 1/289 (_Memoirs R.Astr. Soc. _ vii.); corrected for the length of the seconds-pendulum by introducing a neglected element of reduction; and was entrusted, in 1843, with the reconstruction of the standards of length.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 3, Part 1, Slice 2 "Baconthorpe" to "Bankruptcy" Various
-
So many took part in these singular experiments, which assumed rather the appearance of outdoor sports than of scientific demonstrations, that in a short time we had provided the asteroid with a very large number of little moons, or satellites, of gold, which revolved around it in orbits of various degrees of ellipticity, taking, on the average, about three-quarters of an hour to complete a circuit.
Edison's Conquest of Mars Garrett Putnam Serviss
Comments
Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.