oblong

/ˈɒblɒŋ/US/ˈɑblɔŋ/

oblong adjective: having a length and width that are different; not square or circular.

Adjective

oblong (comparative more oblong, superlative most oblong)

Having a length and width that are different; not square or circular.
- The room was quite dark. The oblong window showed the night sky pricked here and there with stars.1967, Barbara Sleigh, Jessamy, Sevenoaks, Kent: Bloomsbury, published 1993, →ISBN, page 19
Roughly rectangular or elliptical.
- Plant upright spreading hardy, vigorous and productive; berry, oblong, round, medium size, sweet but rather ideipid.1902, A. W. Peart, “Blackberries: Notes by A. W. Peart”, in Annual Report, page 41
Having the horizontal axis of a page longer than the vertical; In landscape orientation.
- Of the smaller oblong formats, none is specifically designated for music.1971, Donald William Krummel, Oblong Format in Early Music Books, page 316
- Mass cycles and motets had never been presented in small oblong format, so far as we can tell.2017, Sean Gallagher, Secular Renaissance Music: Forms and Functions

Noun

oblong (plural oblongs)

Something with an oblong shape.
- They sat at the tables—I suppose you know how they are arranged, as a sort of hollow oblong, with the auctioneer at one end and the attendant showing the coins up and down in the middle?1927, Ernest Bramah [pseudonym; Ernest Brammah Smith], Max Carrados Mysteries
A rectangle with length and width that are different.
- Jessamy looked round her in a puzzled way, but there was nothing to see but the pale oblong of what looked like a star-pierced sky behind the bars of the nursery window.1967, Barbara Sleigh, Jessamy, Sevenoaks, Kent: Bloomsbury, published 1993, →ISBN, page 88
An ellipse with minor and major axes that are different.

Verb

oblong (third-person singular simple present oblongs, present participle oblonging, simple past and past participle oblonged)

(transitive) To extend so as to form an oblong shape.
- […]; by John Denmans hom lot on the north sid the front by a salt crek the reare to the comon which hom lot with all the upland oblonging to it conteining to about fourtie acers more or lese with about one acer & half of salt medo liing before the said house[…]1670, John Bull, signed sealed and delivered in the psents of Antony Waters [/] Rachell (X) Waters; republished as “Town Minutes”, in Town Minutes of Newtown: 1656-1688 (Transcriptions of Early Town...
- That the Gilbert tract, according to his opinion and the law, ought to have been oblonged up the creek. That by oblonging it across the creek, it afforded Elijah Robertson, who superintended the surveying, an opportunity of laying a warrant not located there, for himself, and thereby takes 5,000...1818, John Haywood, “Childress versus Holland. Whyte, Judge, delivered the opinion of himself and Judge Roane.”, in Reports of Cases Argued and Adjudged in the Court of Errors and Appeals of the...
(transitive) To give an oblong shape to.
- A. Why, by dropping them off of cars or dropping them off of trucks or some way it would oblong them .1928, New York Supreme Court, page 2149
- His silhouette: broad shoulders, big legs, a square face oblonged by a crest of thick hair and almost lantern jaw.2006, Nancy Zafris, Lucky Strike, page 165

oblong meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Bengali and Telugu

oblong in Tamil

நீள் சதுரம்

oblong in Urdu

لمبوترا, مستطیل

oblong in Bengali

আয়তাকার, লম্বাকৃতি

oblong in Telugu

oblong: ఆయతము āyatamu

More languagesFewer languages

oblong in Malayalam: ദീർഘപ്രസരം, നീളം വീതിയെക്കാൾ കൂടുതലുളള, പൊക്കത്തെക്കാൾ വീതി കൂടിയ, ദീർഘചതുരമായ
oblong in Kannada: ನಿಡುನಾಲ್ಮೂಲೆ, ಧೀರ್ಘಾಕಾರದ
oblong in Punjabi: ਲੰਬਾ lambā

Examples of oblong in a sentence

That the Gilbert tract, according to his opinion and the law, ought to have been oblonged up the creek.1818, John Haywood, “Childress versus Holland. Whyte, Judge, delivered the opinion of himself and Judge Roane.”, in Reports of Cases Argued...
And there were suddenly berries where there had been none before, bright red and bright blue, all with a careless water drop oblonging their form.2008, Gary D. Schmidt, Trouble, New York, N.Y.: Clarion Books, →ISBN, page 287:

All 24 example sentences with oblong

Forms of oblong

Adjective
comparative	more oblong
superlative	most oblong
Noun
plural	oblongs
Verb
third-person singular present	oblongs
present participle	oblonging
past participle	oblonged
past	oblonged

Origin of oblong

From Middle English oblong, oblonge, borrowed from Latin oblongus.

Words formed from oblong

Phrases with oblong

oblong numbers

Words that rhyme with oblong

26 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about oblong

What does oblong mean?: Oblong means having a length and width that are different; not square or circular.
What is oblong in Tamil?: Oblong in Tamil is நீள் சதுரம். See Oblong meaning in Tamil.
How do you use oblong in a sentence?: That the Gilbert tract, according to his opinion and the law, ought to have been oblonged up the creek.
What part of speech is oblong?: Oblong can be an adjective, a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce oblong?: Oblong is pronounced /ˈɒblɒŋ/ (UK).

Words near oblong in the dictionary

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-GB-oblong.ogg.

Cite this entry: “oblong.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/oblong. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.