orbital

adjective

1. 1

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

   The 1.2-meter-diameter (4-foot-diameter) telescope has set off on a monthlong journey to its orbital destination of the sun-Earth Lagrange point L2, which is nearly 1 million miles (1.6 million kilometers) away from Earth and also home to NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope. Euclid will keep pace with Earth as our planet orbits the sun.

2. 2

   Of or relating to the eye socket (eyehole).

3. 3

   (of roads, railways) Passing around the outside of an urban area.

   The M25 is an orbital motorway around London.

   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?

noun

1. 1

   A specification of the energy and probability density of one or more electrons at any point in an atom or molecule, representable as a wave function.

2. 2

   Variant of orbital motorwayEllipsis of orbital motorway.

3. 3

   Variant of orbital sanderEllipsis of orbital sander.

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

Forms

plural

orbitals