Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Astronomy A point on the celestial sphere directly below the observer, diametrically opposite the zenith.
  • noun The lowest point.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun That point of the heavens which is vertically below any station upon the earth.
  • noun Hence The lowest point; the point of extreme depression.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun That point of the heavens, or lower hemisphere, directly opposite the zenith; the inferior pole of the horizon; the point of the celestial sphere directly under the place where we stand.
  • noun The lowest point; the time of greatest depression.
  • noun (Astron.) the axis of the conical shadow projected by the earth.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun The point of the celestial sphere, directly opposite the zenith; inferior pole of the horizon; point of the celestial sphere directly under the place where we stand.
  • noun figuratively The lowest point; time of greatest depression.
  • noun astronomy The axis of a projected conical shadow; the direction of the force of gravity at a location; down.
  • noun beekeeping, archaic An empty box added beneath a full one in a beehive to give the colony more room to expand or store honey.
  • verb transitive, beekeeping To extend (a beehive) by adding an empty box at the base.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun the point below the observer that is directly opposite the zenith on the imaginary sphere against which celestial bodies appear to be projected
  • noun an extreme state of adversity; the lowest point of anything

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, from Medieval Latin, from Arabic naẓīr (as-samt), opposite (the zenith), from naẓara, to see, watch; see nṭr in Semitic roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Medieval Latin nadir, from Arabic نَظِيرُ السَّمْت (naẓīru as-samt), composed of السَمْتُ (as-samt, "the zenith") and نَظِير (naẓīr, "counterpart, corresponding to").

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Examples

  • To see Wes Craven descend back into his late-80s nadir is a tragic thing indeed.

    Scott Mendelson: HuffPost Review: My Soul to Take (2010) Scott Mendelson 2010

  • To see Wes Craven descend back into his late-80s nadir is a tragic thing indeed.

    Scott Mendelson: HuffPost Review: My Soul to Take (2010) Scott Mendelson 2010

  • The nadir is a middle eight that involves the curly-haired one intoning, "When IIIIIII talk to youuuuuuuuuuuuu, on the phhhooooonnnnneee" as if he actually hates his lover and wants her to bleed from the ears.

    This week's new singles Michael Cragg 2010

  • But market participants expect a near-term nadir for the cash rate of around 2.5%.

    Australia Unveils Aggressive Stimulus Plan James Glynn 2009

  • The depth is called the nadir, the lowest point, opposite the zenith on a celestial body.

    The Way of the Fertile Soul Randine Lewis 2007

  • The markets appear to be riding along on a combination of hope the EFSF has its shackles taken off and the view that valuations have reached a short-term nadir…as a result of ...

    unknown title 2011

  • The markets appear to be riding along on a combination of hope the EFSF has its shackles taken off and the view that valuations have reached a short-term nadir…as a result of ...

    unknown title 2011

  • The markets appear to be riding along on a combination of hope the EFSF has its shackles taken off and the view that valuations have reached a short-term nadir…as a result of ...

    unknown title 2011

  • Fred Malek, told POLITICO the party now sits at its "nadir" - though he, like others, said its best hope is to wait for the economy to tarnish Obama.

    Yahoo! News: Top Stories 2009

  • The nadir is an argument that I’ve never before seen from even the least perceptive Oxenford backer:

    Shakespeare Controversies 2010

Comments

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  • If I was to make a list of words learnt from "Bloom County," this would be on top of it.

    October 12, 2007

  • this word sounds too beautiful to be the lowest point...it is a much more gorgeous word than apex

    August 1, 2008

  • Except for that unfortunate association with Ralph...

    August 1, 2008

  • Then again, that sounds better than Ralph Apex.

    August 1, 2008

  • It certainly does.

    August 1, 2008

  • But Ralph Zenith has a certain ring to it.

    August 2, 2008

  • I like the name Ralph Affliction.

    August 2, 2008

  • Zenith Apogee would make a great name for a comic book character.

    *wondering if some celebrity has already used it for a new baby name*

    August 2, 2008

  • There's an employee at one of my local supermarkets whose name is Nadir. Seriously.

    August 3, 2009

  • That marks a low point in supermarket employee names.

    August 3, 2009

  • Exactly my thoughts on the matter. I am fairly sure this person is from another country (or at least grew up speaking a language other than English), so I do wonder what the name might mean in that country or language.

    August 4, 2009