Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Nadir
Na′dir
(nā′dẽr)
, Noun.
1.
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.
2.
The lowest point; the time of greatest depression.
The seventh century is the
nadir
of the human mind in Europe. Hallam.
Nadir of the sun
(Astron.)
, the axis of the conical shadow projected by the earth.
Crabb.
Webster 1828 Edition
Nadir
NADIR
,Noun.
1.
Natara, to be like, proportional, corresponding to, opposite.2.
That point of the heavens or lower hemisphere directly opposite to the zenith; the point directly under the place where we stand.Definition 2024
Nadir
nadir
nadir
See also: Nadir
English
Noun
nadir (plural nadirs)
- 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.
- 1638, Sir Thomas Herbert, Some years travels into divers parts of Asia and Afrique:
- […] when we are Nadyr to the Sunne, we have no ſhadow […]
- 1638, Sir Thomas Herbert, Some years travels into divers parts of Asia and Afrique:
- (figuratively) The lowest point; time of greatest depression.
- 1837, Henry Hallam, Introduction to the Literature of Europe in the Fifteenth, Sixteenth, and Seventeenth Centuries:
- […] the seventh century is the nadir of the human mind in Europe […]
- 1950, Elizabeth Janeway, in Helen Hull (editor), The Writer’s Book:
- In this nadir of poetic repute, when the only verse that most people read from one year’s end to the next is what appears on greetings cards, it is well for us to stop and consider our poets.
- 1837, Henry Hallam, Introduction to the Literature of Europe in the Fifteenth, Sixteenth, and Seventeenth Centuries:
- (astronomy) The axis of a projected conical shadow; the direction of the force of gravity at a location; down.
- The nadir of the sun is the axis of the shadow projected by the Earth.
- (beekeeping, archaic) An empty box added beneath a full one in a beehive to give the colony more room to expand or store honey.
References
- 1860, Henry Taylor, The Beekeepers Manual, page 24.
Synonyms
- (lowest point): lowest ebb, slough of despond, trough, bathos
Antonyms
- (point of heavens opposite the zenith): zenith
- (lowest point): height, peak
- (beekeeping): duplet, super
Related terms
Translations
point of the sky
figuratively the lowest point
Verb
nadir (third-person singular simple present nadirs, present participle nadiring, simple past and past participle nadired)
Anagrams
Italian
Etymology
From Medieval Latin nadir, from Arabic نَظِير السَّمْت (naẓīr as-samt), composed of نَظِير (naẓīr, “counterpart, corresponding to”) and السَّمْت (as-samt, “the zenith”).
Pronunciation
- nadìr, IPA(key): /naˈdir/
Noun
nadir m