Deviation of an ellipse or a spheroid from the form of a circle or a sphere; especially, in reference to the figure of the earth, the difference between the equatorial and polar semidiameters, divided by the equatorial; thus, the ellipticity of the earth is &frac1x29966
The amount by which a spheroid differs from a sphere or an ellipse differs from a circle, calculated by dividing the difference in the length of the axes by the length of the major axis Also called compression See flattening