Definition of "conic" [con•ic]

• Conical. (adjective)
• A conic section. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "The curve which represents with perfect fidelity the movements of a planet in its revolution around the sun belongs to that well-known group of curves which mathematicians describe as the conic sections."
• "The intersection of a plane with this object forms an important set of two dimensional curves, called the conic sections."
• "As a math teacher, I find it difficult each year to teach certain topics such as conic sections that have very little practical use, but must be covered because the “test makers” determine them to be part of the core curriculum."