orbital

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.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ɔː.bɪt.əl/, /ɔː.bɪt.l̩/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ɔɹ.bət.l̩/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔː(ɹ)bɪtəl

orbital (not comparable)

1. Of or relating to, or forming an orbit (such as the orbit of a moon, planet, or spacecraft).
2. (anatomy) Of or relating to the eye socket (eyehole).
3. (chiefly UK) (of roads, railways) Passing around the outside of an urban area.

   The M25 is an orbital motorway around London.

   • 2019 October 23, Rail, pages 22, 23:

     The rail orbital routes outside of the M25 and South Coast are challenging. The corridors aren't particularly reliable, and in some places they don't exist. [...] But the reliability and journey times, particularly on the orbital routes: one train an hour from Gatwick Airport to Reading? Surely we can do better than that?

orbital (plural orbitals)

1. (physics) A specification of the energy and probability density of one or more electrons at any point in an atom or molecule, and can be represented as a wave function.

   Hyponyms: antibonding orbital, atomic orbital, bonding orbital, hybrid orbital, frontier orbital, molecular orbital

2. (chiefly UK) Ellipsis of orbital motorway.
3. Short for orbital sander.
   • 1967, Popular Mechanics, volume 128, number 6, page 166:

     As with most power tools, orbitals can be divided into light and heavy-duty categories.

• inner orbital complex
• intraorbital
• molecular orbital theory
• orbital quantum number

• quantum number

• “orbital”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
• “orbital”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.

• tar boil, tar-boil

• IPA^(key): (Central) [ur.biˈtal]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic) [or.biˈtal]
• IPA^(key): (Valencian) [oɾ.biˈtal]

orbital m or f (masculine and feminine plural orbitals)

1. orbital (of or relating to an orbit)

• òrbita
• orbitari

• “orbital” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.

From orbite +‎ -al.

• IPA^(key): /ɔʁ.bi.tal/

• Audio

  (file)

orbital (feminine orbitale, masculine plural orbitaux, feminine plural orbitales)

1. orbital

• “orbital”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

orbital m or f (plural orbitais)

1. orbital

• órbita
• orbitar

• IPA^(key): /ɔʁbɪˈtaːl/

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aːl

orbital (strong nominative masculine singular orbitaler, not comparable)

1. orbital

• Rhymes: -al, -aw
• Hyphenation: or‧bi‧tal

orbital m or f (plural orbitais, not comparable)

1. (astrophysics) orbital (of or relating to an orbit)
2. (anatomy) orbital (of or relating to the eye socket)

Borrowed from French orbital.

orbital m or n (feminine singular orbitală, masculine plural orbitali, feminine and neuter plural orbitale)

1. orbital

• IPA^(key): /oɾbiˈtal/ [oɾ.β̞iˈt̪al]
• Rhymes: -al
• Syllabification: or‧bi‧tal

orbital m or f (masculine and feminine plural orbitales)

1. orbital (of or relating to an orbit)

   Synonym: orbitario

2. (anatomy) orbital (of or relating to the eye socket)

   Synonym: orbitario

orbital m (plural orbitales)

1. (chemistry) orbital

• “orbital”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014