spheroid

Plural: spheroids

Noun

• A solid resembling a sphere, typically slightly flattened or elongated.
• a shape that is generated by rotating an ellipse around one of its axes
  • "it looked like a sphere but on closer examination I saw it was really a spheroid"
• A solid of revolution generated by rotating an ellipse about its major (prolate), or minor (oblate) axis.

Adj

• Of a shape similar to a squashed sphere.

Examples

• His Words With Friends strategy was like a spheroid, almost perfect but with slight variations.
• UFOs are reported as being either oblate (saucer-shaped) or prolate (cigar-shaped) spheroids.

Synonyms

ellipsoid of revolution