eccentricity

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a ratio describing the geometric shape of a conic section

   I calculated the eccentricity of the parabola.

2. 2
   noun

   The quality of being eccentric or odd; any eccentric behaviour.

   Although the Celebrity was almost impervious to sarcasm, he was now beginning to exhibit visible signs of uneasiness, the consciousness dawning upon him that his eccentricity was not receiving the ovation it merited.

3. 3
   noun

   The ratio, constant for any particular conic section, of the distance of a point from the focus to its distance from the directrix.

   For an ellipse, the eccentricity is the ratio of the distance from the center to a focus divided by the length of the semi-major axis.

4. 4
   noun

   strange and unconventional behavior

5. 5
   noun

   a circularity that has a different center or deviates from a circular path

6. 6
   noun

   The eccentricity of the conic section (usually an ellipse) defined by the orbit of a given object around a reference object (such as that of a planet around the sun).

7. 7
   noun

   The farthest distance from a vertex to any other vertex.

Etymology

From eccentric + -ity.