adj, noun ·2 syllables ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   A solid of revolution generated by rotating an ellipse about its major (prolate), or minor (oblate) axis.

   "UFOs are reported as being either oblate (saucer-shaped) or prolate (cigar-shaped) spheroids."

2. 2
   a shape that is generated by rotating an ellipse around one of its axes wordnet

Adjective

1. 1
   Of a shape similar to a squashed sphere.

Synonyms

All synonyms

ballballoonbladderblobbollbolus

Example

More examples

"The Earth is an oblate spheroid."

Etymology

From sphere + -oid.

Related phrases

solid of revolution

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.