Word.ws English Dictionary

nadir

UK/ˈneɪˌdɪə(ɹ)//ˈneɪˌdɪɚ/

nadir 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 of observation.

nadir: the point of the celestial sphere, directly opposite the zenith; inferior pole of the horizon;...
Image: DTR, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

nadir (plural nadirs)

  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 of observation.
    • […] 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
    Synonyms:
    antizenith
    Antonyms:
    zenith
  2. (figuratively) The lowest point; time of greatest depression.
    • Near-synonym: dead
    • […] the seventh century is the nadir of the human mind in Europe […]1837, Henry Hallam, Introduction to the Literature of Europe in the Fifteenth, Sixteenth, and Seventeenth Centuries
    Synonyms:
    lowest ebb, slough of despond, trough, bathos, low point, dead
    Antonyms:
    height, peak
  3. 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.
    Synonyms:
    down
  4. (archaic) An empty box added beneath a full one in a beehive to give the colony more room to expand or store honey.
    Antonyms:
    duplet, super

Verb

nadir (third-person singular simple present nadirs, present participle nadiring, simple past and past participle nadired)

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

Proper noun capitalized: Nadir

Nadir

  1. A male given name.
  2. A surname.

nadir meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Bengali and Malayalam

nadir in Hindi

point of the sky
नाजिर nājir
figuratively the lowest point
नाजिर nājir
axis of projected conical shadow
नाजिर nājir

nadir in Tamil

கடைப்புள்ளி, தாழ்புள்ளி, நீசம், தாழ் புள்ளி, சிறுமம்

nadir in Bengali

অধোবিন্দু, নিম্নতম, দুর্বলতম বিন্দু

nadir in Malayalam

നീചബിന്ദു, അധോഭാഗം, പാതാളം, നീചാവസ്ഥ
More languagesFewer languages
nadir in Kannada
ಅತ್ಯಂತ ಕೆಳಗಿನ ಮಟ್ಟ, ಅಧೋಗತಿಯ ಕೊನೆಯ ಮಟ್ಟ, ಪಾತಾಳ, ಅಧೋಗತಿ
nadir in Punjabi
تھلا thallā
nadir in Tagalog
idalum
nadir in Arabic
نَظِير naẓīr
nadir in Malay
nadir
nadir in Persian
نظیرالسمت nazir-os-samt, سمتالقدم samt-ol-qadam, پاسو pâsu, قعر qa'r

Examples of nadir in a sentence

  • 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.1950, Elizabeth Janeway, edited by Helen Hull, The Writer’s Book:
  • The myth describes the dangerous moment of the nadir, the dead of winter, the moment when it is not known whether the world will be re-created and another cycle will bring on another spring.1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, London...

Synonyms of nadir

Antonyms

All synonyms and antonyms of nadir

Forms of nadir

Noun
pluralnadirs
Verb
third-person singular presentnadirs
present participlenadiring
past participlenadired
pastnadired

Origin of nadir

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

Unknown. It has been suggested that it is from Arabic نَزِير (nazīr, “rare, trivial”), but if it is Arabic, perhaps more likely would be نَذِير (naḏīr, “auspicious, boding well (?)”). Represents the word 'rare' in Hebrew.

Words formed from nadir

Words that rhyme with nadir

5 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about nadir

What does nadir mean?
Nadir means the point of the celestial sphere, directly opposite the zenith; inferior pole of the horizon; point of the celestial sphere directly under the place of observation.
What is nadir in Hindi?
Nadir in Hindi is नाजिर (nājir). See Nadir meaning in Hindi.
How do you use nadir in a sentence?
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.
What part of speech is nadir?
Nadir can be a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce nadir?
Nadir is pronounced /ˈneɪˌdɪə(ɹ)/ (UK).
What is the plural of nadir?
The plural of nadir is nadirs.

Words near nadir in the dictionary

  1. nadide
  2. nadifloxacin
  3. Nadine
  4. nading
  5. Nadings
  6. nadir
  7. nadiral
  8. nadired
  9. nadiring
  10. nadirs
  11. Nadislav

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: nadir (page history and authors); Nadir (page history and authors); nadir (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); nadir (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); nadir (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); nadir (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); تھلا (Punjabi) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-nadir.ogg.

Cite this entry: “nadir.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/nadir. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.