Nadir

Pronunciation

• RP IPA: /ˈneɪdɪə(ɹ)/
• US IPA: /ˈneɪdɪɹ/

Origin

From Medieval Latin nadir, from Arabic نَظِيرُ السَّمْت, composed of السَمْتُ (as-samt, "the zenith") and

نَظِير (naẓīr, "counterpart, corresponding to").

Full definition of nadir

Noun

1. 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 Å¿hadow ...
2. (figuratively) The lowest point; time of greatest depression.
• unknown date Henry Hallam: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.
3. (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.
4. (beekeeping, archaic) An empty box added beneath a full one in a beehive to give the colony more room to expand or store honey.

Synonyms

• (lowest point) lowest ebb, slough of despond, trough

Antonyms

• (point of heavens opposite the zenith) zenith
• (lowest point) height, peak
• (beekeeping) duplet, super

Related terms

• azimuth, zenith - (both from السَمْتُ (as-samt)).

Verb

1. (transitive, beekeeping) To extend (a beehive) by adding an empty box at the base.

Anagrams

• Darin, dinar, drain, Drina, Indra, Ndari, ranid