Standard Lemma guide

eccentricity

noun · 7 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • US: /ˌɛk.sɛnˈtɹɪs.ɪ.ti/
  • US: [ˌɛk.sənˈtɹɪs.ə.ɾi]
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: EH2 K S AH0 N T R IH1 S AH0 T IY0 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

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

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

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

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

Topics: geometry, mathematics, sciences

Examples

  • 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.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

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).

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

Topics: astronomy, natural-sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

noun

Meaning 4

The farthest distance from a vertex to any other vertex.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

Topics: graph-theory, mathematics, sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

5

noun

Meaning 5

strange and unconventional behavior

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: unfamiliarity, strangeness

Narrower terms: oddity, oddness

6

noun

Meaning 6

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

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: concentricity

Broader terms: circularity, disk shape

7

noun

Meaning 7

(geometry) a ratio describing the shape of a conic section; the ratio of the distance between the foci to the length of the major axis

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • a circle is an ellipse with zero eccentricity

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: ratio

History

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin eccentricitās. By surface analysis, eccentric + -ity.

Across languages

Translations

58 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Bulgarian: ексцентричност (ekscentričnost) — the quality of being eccentric
  • Catalan: excentricitat — the quality of being eccentric
  • Czech: výstřednost — the quality of being eccentric
  • Danish: excentricitet — the quality of being eccentric
  • Finnish: eksentrisyys — the quality of being eccentric
  • French: excentricité — the quality of being eccentric
  • Greek: εκκεντρικότητα (ekkentrikótita) — the quality of being eccentric
  • Hindi: विलक्षणता (vilakṣaṇtā) — the quality of being eccentric
  • Icelandic: sérviska — the quality of being eccentric
  • Italian: eccentricità — the quality of being eccentric
  • Marathi: विक्षिप्तपणा (vikṣiptapṇā) — the quality of being eccentric
  • Norwegian Bokmål: eksentrisitet — the quality of being eccentric
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: eksentrisitet — the quality of being eccentric
  • Polish: ekscentryczność — the quality of being eccentric
  • Portuguese: excentricidade — the quality of being eccentric
  • Romanian: excentricitate — the quality of being eccentric
  • Russian: эксцентри́чность (ekscentríčnostʹ) — the quality of being eccentric
  • Spanish: excentricidad — the quality of being eccentric
  • Swedish: excentricitet — the quality of being eccentric
  • Unami: kànkàmawsëwakàn — the quality of being eccentric
  • Bulgarian: ексцентричност (ekscentričnost) — eccentric behaviour
  • Catalan: excentricitat — eccentric behaviour
  • Finnish: eksentrismi — eccentric behaviour
  • French: excentricité — eccentric behaviour
  • German: exzentrisches Verhalten — eccentric behaviour
  • Greek: εκκεντρικότητα (ekkentrikótita) — eccentric behaviour
  • Italian: eccentricità — eccentric behaviour
  • Marathi: विक्षिप्तपणा (vikṣiptapṇā) — eccentric behaviour
  • Polish: ekscentryczność — eccentric behaviour
  • Polish: ekscentryzm — eccentric behaviour
  • Portuguese: excentricidade — eccentric behaviour
  • Romanian: excentricitate — eccentric behaviour
  • Spanish: excentricidad — eccentric behaviour
  • Swedish: excentricitet — eccentric behaviour
  • Turkish: acayiplik — eccentric behaviour
  • Turkish: ayrıksılık — eccentric behaviour
  • Catalan: excentricitat — a ratio between distances in a conic section
  • Chinese Mandarin: 離心率 /离心率 (líxīnlǜ) — a ratio between distances in a conic section
  • Dutch: excentriciteit — a ratio between distances in a conic section
  • Finnish: eksentrisyys — a ratio between distances in a conic section
  • Finnish: epäkeskisyys — a ratio between distances in a conic section
  • French: excentricité — a ratio between distances in a conic section
  • Galician: excentricidade — a ratio between distances in a conic section
  • German: Exzentrizität — a ratio between distances in a conic section
  • Hungarian: excentricitás — a ratio between distances in a conic section
  • Irish: éalárnacht — a ratio between distances in a conic section
  • Italian: eccentricità — a ratio between distances in a conic section
  • Norwegian Bokmål: eksentrisitet — a ratio between distances in a conic section
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: eksentrisitet — a ratio between distances in a conic section
  • Polish: ekscentryczność — a ratio between distances in a conic section
  • Polish: mimośród — a ratio between distances in a conic section
  • Portuguese: excentricidade — a ratio between distances in a conic section
  • Romanian: excentricitate — a ratio between distances in a conic section
  • Russian: эксцентрисите́т (ekscentrisitét) — a ratio between distances in a conic section
  • Spanish: excentricidad — a ratio between distances in a conic section
  • Swedish: excentricitet — a ratio between distances in a conic section
  • Turkish: eksantriklik — a ratio between distances in a conic section
  • Turkish: eksantrisite — a ratio between distances in a conic section
Real reading context

eccentricity in complete knowledge articles