English Explanatory Dictionary

orbital

English dictionary entry

Meanings

adj
  1. Of or relating to, or forming an orbit (such as the orbit of a moon, planet, or spacecraft).
  2. Of or relating to the eye socket (eyehole).
  3. (of roads, railways) Passing around the outside of an urban area.
noun
  1. A specification of the energy and probability density of one or more electrons at any point in an atom or molecule, representable as a wave function.
  2. Ellipsis of orbital motorway.
  3. Ellipsis of orbital sander.

Pronunciation

/ɔː.bɪt.əl/ /ɔː.bɪt.l̩/ LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-orbital.wav /ɔɹ.bət.l̩/ LL-Q1860 (eng)-Wodencafe-orbital.wav

Word forms

orbital orbitals

Etymology

Borrowed from Medieval Latin orbitālis, from orbita (“a track or rut; a circuit, orbit”) + -ālis (“-al”, adjectival suffix), equivalent to orbit + -al. Doublet of orbitalis.

Related words

quantum number

Derived words

anteorbital antorbital biorbital circumorbital coorbital cranioorbital exorbital extraorbital frontoorbital infraorbital interorbital maxilloorbital midorbital multiorbital nonorbital ocellorbital orbital apex syndrome orbital cavity orbital defense platform orbital element orbital fissure orbital forming orbital index orbitally orbital mechanics orbital motorway orbital plane orbital process orbital ridge orbital riveting orbital sander orbital symmetry orbital velocity orbito- paraorbital periorbital postorbital preorbital retro-orbital retroorbital sidereal orbital period sphenoorbital sphenorbital suborbital superorbital supraorbital temporoorbital transorbital zygomatico-orbital zygomaticoorbital inner orbital complex intraorbital molecular orbital theory orbital quantum number
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