Nadir
[NAY-dər]
Part of speech: noun
Origin: Arabic, 15th century
1.
The lowest point in the fortunes of a person or organization.
2.
The point on the celestial sphere directly below an observer.
Examples of Nadir in a sentence
"At the nadir of his sales career, he decided to try a new path and go back to school."
"I couldn’t find the Ursa Major constellation, because it was positioned at my nadir."
About Nadir
Nadir was originally used as an astronomy term to describe the point in the celestial sky directly below the observer. For example, stand outside and look up at the sky. Now draw an imaginary line from that point in the sky down through your body, straight through the Earth and into the sky on the other side of the world. That’s the nadir.
Did you Know?
Nadir doesn’t have its own definition so much as it is the opposite of something else. It comes from the Arabic word “naẓīr,” which means opposite to the zenith. The zenith is the highest (or directly above the observer) point in the celestial sky, so it follows that the nadir is the lowest point.
