orbital

1 of 3

adjective (1)

or·​bit·​al ˈȯr-bə-tᵊl 

1

: of, relating to, or forming an orbit (such as the orbit of a moon, planet, or spacecraft)

the orbital path of a satellite

The Gregorian calendar is purely based on the position of the sun as seen from Earth, and is closely related to the Earth's orbital period.

—Martin George

In October 1957, a whirling orbital ball known as Sputnik roused Americans from their slumber and set into motion a rethinking of our educational system.

—Sam Wineburg

Blue Origin is also developing a crew capsule that might carry passengers by year's end. But that capsule is intended for brief up-and-down hops, not orbital flights, by tourists.

—Marcia Dunn

2

chiefly British, of a roadway : following a circular path around an urban area

The 117-mile orbital motorway encircles London and links to Heathrow and Gatwick airports.

—Paul Harper

orbital

2 of 3

adjective (2)

: of, relating to, or located near the orbit of the eye

orbital bones

He required 23 stitches to his face and had an orbital fracture below his left eye.

—Rachel Rosenbaum

orbital

3 of 3

noun

plural orbitals

physics : a mathematically described region around a nucleus in an atom or molecule that may contain zero, one, or two electrons

Electrons arrange themselves in cloudlike regions around the nucleus called orbitals. These orbitals are designated by numbers for their energy level and letters (s, p, d, f) for their shape.

—Beth Mole

Examples of orbital in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Adjective

Going on a short spacewalk to do that would mean leaving the safety of the vehicle, Isaacman said, but such an enhancement would let the telescope take better advantage of the longer lifespan that an orbital boost would give it. —Nell Greenfieldboyce, NPR, 16 May 2024

In March, a smaller hunk of orbital junk tore through the roof of a home in Naples, FL. —Harri Weber, Popular Science, 16 May 2024

That two-module orbital outpost will also be inflatable and is now expected to be launched in 2028. —IEEE Spectrum, 10 May 2024

Then an experiment designed to test the shuttle’s facility for orbital rendezvous, using a Mylar balloon inflated with gas, also ended in farce when the balloon launched but promptly exploded; meanwhile, the shuttle toilet—which had always been troublesome—stopped working altogether. —Adam Higginbotham, Smithsonian Magazine, 8 May 2024

Monday's launch would have been the third and final orbital flight test for Boeing's Starliner before it could be approved to make routine trips to space for NASA. —Eric Lagatta, USA TODAY, 7 May 2024

For perspective, 43 years ago AIDS was officially recognized by the CDC; the space shuttle made its first orbital flight; Charles and Diana got married. —Letters To The Editor, The Mercury News, 6 May 2024

The anticipated 53-day mission comes after China became the first country in 2013 to achieve a robotic lunar landing in nearly four decades, and two years after the nation completed its own orbital space station, the Tiangong, in 2022 to rival the International Space Station. —Eric Lagatta, USA TODAY, 3 May 2024

What the secular calendar does that your run-of-the-mill perpetual calendar can’t is skip the leap year at the top of each century, which our calendar must do to account for orbital anomalies. —Allen Farmelo, Robb Report, 15 Apr. 2024

Noun

In a video shared on X (formerly known as Twitter), Gonzalez was captured foul-tipping the ball into his face, fracturing his right orbital, before falling to the ground in pain. —Gabrielle Rockson, Peoplemag, 26 Mar. 2024

And those orbitals have an equally specific orientation within the crystal. —John Timmer, Ars Technica, 4 Aug. 2023

Theoretical considerations suggest that electrons from specific orbitals of the atoms within the crystal will be doing the superconducting. —John Timmer, Ars Technica, 4 Aug. 2023

The attack left the victim with a fractured orbital, a broken nose, swelling and bruising to his face, San Diego police spokesperson Mark Herring said. —Karen Kucher, San Diego Union-Tribune, 6 Dec. 2023

For this, the ideal atoms are ones that have unpaired electrons swarming around the nucleus in what are known as 3d orbitals. —IEEE Spectrum, 15 Nov. 2023

With a high-power ultraviolet laser, the scientists excited the electrons of these atoms to Rydberg orbitals far from their atomic nuclei. —IEEE Spectrum, 15 Oct. 2023

With pulses that short, observers can harness a free-electron laser to see individual atoms in motion, molecules making and breaking bonds, and even electron orbitals in excitation. —IEEE Spectrum, 26 Sep. 2023

As researchers discovered decades ago, magnetic strength can be greatly improved by adding to the crystalline lattice atoms with unpaired electrons in the 4f orbital—notably the rare-earth elements neodymium, samarium, and dysprosium. —IEEE Spectrum, 22 Mar. 2023

Word History

Etymology

Noun

derivative of orbital entry 1

First Known Use

Adjective (1)

1846, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Adjective (2)

circa 1541, in the meaning defined above

Noun

1932, in the meaning defined above

Phrases Containing orbital

• molecular orbital

Medical Definition

orbital

noun

or·​bit·​al ˈȯr-bət-ᵊl 

: a subdivision of a nuclear shell containing zero, one, or two electrons