SPHEROID

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does spheroid mean? 

• SPHEROID (noun)
  The noun SPHEROID has 1 sense:

1. a shape that is generated by rotating an ellipse around one of its axes

  Familiarity information: SPHEROID used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SPHEROID (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A shape that is generated by rotating an ellipse around one of its axes

Classified under:

Nouns denoting two and three dimensional shapes

Synonyms:

ellipsoid of revolution; spheroid

Context example:

it looked like a sphere but on closer examination I saw it was really a spheroid

Hypernyms ("spheroid" is a kind of...):

round shape (a shape that is curved and without sharp angles)

Derivation:

spheroidal (having the nature or shape of an ellipsoid)

 Context examples 

A spheroid joint located between the heads of the metatarsal bone and the base of the proximal phalanx of the toe.

(Metatarsophalangeal Joint, NCI Thesaurus)

The longest possible length of a straight line passing through the center of a circular or spheroid object that connects two points on the circumference.

(Longest Diameter, NCI Thesaurus)

A rare neuroaxonal dystrophy, histologically characterized by axonal spheroids, iron deposition, lewy body (LB)-like intraneuronal inclusions and neurofibrillary tangles.

(Brain Iron Accumulation Type I Syndrome, NCI Thesaurus)

The geometry of an object that is shaped like a spheroid compressed at the poles.

(Oblate, NCI Thesaurus)

The spheroid synovial joints between the metacarpals and the proximal phalanges of the hand.

(Metacarpophalangeal Joint, NCI Thesaurus)

Based on these new occultation observations, team members say MU69 may not be not a lone spherical object, but suspect it could be an extreme prolate spheroid – think of a skinny football – or even a binary pair.

(New Horizons' Next Target Just Got a Lot More Interesting, NASA)