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orbital

American  
[awr-bi-tl] / ˈɔr bɪ tl /

adjective

  1. of or relating to an orbit.


noun

  1. Physics, Chemistry.

    1. a wave function describing the state of a single electron in an atom atomic orbital or in a molecule molecular orbital.

    2. the electron in that state.

orbital British  
/ ˈɔːbɪtəl /

adjective

  1. of or denoting an orbit

  2. (of a motorway or major road circuit) circling a large city

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

noun

  1. a region surrounding an atomic nucleus in which the probability distribution of the electrons is given by a wave function

  2. an orbital road

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

  • interorbital adjective
  • interorbitally adverb
  • orbitally adverb
  • preorbital adjective
  • superorbital adjective
  • transorbital adjective
  • unorbital adjective
  • unorbitally adverb

Etymology

Origin of orbital

1535–45; < New Latin, Medieval Latin orbitālis; orbit, -al 1

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Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Extremely risky orbital reconstruction surgery was a possibility, along with a donor nerve, or a full donor eye.

From Los Angeles Times

Aetherflux, a space startup developing orbital data centers, is raising a new funding round at a $2 billion valuation, according to people familiar with the situation.

From The Wall Street Journal

Currently, its reusable rockets account for more than half of worldwide orbital launches.

From Barron's

"The spectra revealed that the signatures of the high-temperature plasma change velocity between the three observations, following the orbital motion of the white dwarf rather than that of the Be star," the researcher continues.

From Science Daily

NASA's chief on Tuesday said the US space agency will invest $20 billion to develop a base on the Moon, while suspending its plans to create the lunar orbital space station known as Gateway.

From Barron's