Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
🌀 Unusual or odd ⚙️ Not same center 🧑‍🎨 An odd person
eccentric

eccentric

4 7.6
Not having the same center as another circle or sphere
  • adjective
  • /ɪkˈsɛntrɪk/
  • Specialized
translation icon : excéntrico
  • The comet follows an eccentric orbit around the sun, moving far from and close to it at different points.
  • eccentric orbit
  • eccentric and concentric
  • eccentric contraction

I just Earth and Mars have concentric orbits, but Mars is much more eccentric.

Examples

  • Further, Pluto's orbit is highly eccentric and crosses that of another planet (Neptune).

    Academic text (2004)

  • Six planets went about it in eccentric orbits.

    Fiction book (2001)

  • All of the roof lines of the pitifully small buildings veered at eccentric angles.

    Fiction book (1992)

  • The scientists observed that the planet's path was eccentric, differing significantly from a perfect circle.

  • Due to its eccentric trajectory, the asteroid will occasionally approach Earth much closer than other asteroids.

Synonyms

nonconcentric
vseccentric
9.3

Having centers that are not in the same place

has identical meaning but is a different single word form

Antonyms

concentric
11 5.7

Having the same center, like circles placed inside each other

Compounds

eccentric person
1 6.0

A person with unusual habits or behavior

How Off-Center

eccentric
  • Specialized
4 7.6
off-center
  • US
8 4.1
concentric
11 5.7

Surface Forms

eccentric positive
eccentricer comparative
eccentricest superlative

Morphology

eccentric = centric (transparent) = ec + centric

The geometric sense is a direct literal combination: 'ec-' (out of) + 'centric' (centered) = not sharing the same center.

Etymology

Eccentric in geometry comes from Greek ek- 'out of' and kentron 'center', and it literally means 'off the center', so it is used for circles or orbits that do not share the same center.