nadir

noun na·dir \ ˈnā-ˌdir , ˈnā-dər \

|Updated on: 14 Jul 2018

Examples: nadir in a Sentence

Editor's Note: nadir Has Arabic Roots

Definition of nadir

1 : the point of the celestial sphere that is directly opposite the zenith and vertically downward from the observer

2 : the lowest point

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Examples of nadir in a Sentence

Nantucket reached its nadir in the post-Civil War period. The whaling industry had become moribund, many New Englanders had been lured to California by the discovery of gold, and the island population dropped from ten thousand in 1830 to scarcely more than three thousand in 1880. —David H. Wood, Antiques, August 1995
But then, at the very nadir of that dark abandoned moment, that moment of despair and sickness unto death, … —T. Coraghessan Boyle, The Road to Wellville, 1993
My nadir was the time I presented an oral book report on "Les Misérables," having read only the Classic Comics version … —Stephen Jay Gould, New York Times Book Review, 12 Oct. 1986
The relationship between the two countries reached a nadir in the 1920s.
the discussion really reached its nadir when people resorted to name-calling

Recent Examples of nadir from the Web

Sorrentino, 35, walked into the Jersey Shore: Family Vacation Miami house at a personal nadir and is walking out a new — and newly engaged — man.

— refinery29.com, "The Situation Was The Big Winner Of Jersey Shore: Family Vacation," 29 June 2018
But Mallee’s first series against his former team also represented the Phillies’ offensive nadir.

— scott lauber, Philly.com, "Nick Williams, with inside info from hitting coach, powers Phillies win over Cubs," 5 June 2018
The Bone Wars, as the conflict was called, reached their nadir when Marsh had a fossil field dynamited to keep Cope from exploring it; to gain an edge, in other words, Marsh destroyed knowledge.

— dennis drabelle, chicagotribune.com, "Illinois-native's book on fantastic beasts and those who find them," 5 June 2018
In the nadir of the 1970s, choked by smog regulations and forced to contend with unleaded gasoline, manufacturers built massive V8s that wheezed.

— blake z. rong, Popular Mechanics, "The Evolution of the Combustion Engine," 5 June 2018
To start, rock and roll is in one of its periodic nadirs and hip-hop has long been in the ascendant.

— ryu spaeth, The New Republic, "What Happened to the Cool Jerk of Indie Rock?," 4 June 2018
Growth is broadly based: 89% of S&P 500 firms are enjoying rising sales, up from just 36% in 2009’s nadir; the high in the previous cycle was 76% in 2008.

— The Economist, "Business in the Republicans’ America is flourishing, but also changing," 24 May 2018
Tuesday’s conference reflected a more upbeat party as Democrats, through special elections, have shrunk Republican margins in the House and Senate, while flipping 41 state legislative seats since the nadir of the 2016 election.

— chris stirewalt, Fox News, "Senate Intel concurs: Kremlin looked to boost Trump," 16 May 2018
Get our daily newsletter Even before that signal victory, things were not as bad as at the democratic nadir in the 1970s and early 1980s.

— The Economist, "South-East Asia: lots of elections, not so much democracy," 24 May 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'nadir.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

nadir Has Arabic Roots

Nadir is part of the galaxy of scientific words that have come to us from Arabic, a language that has made important contributions in the vocabulary of mathematics, astronomy, medicine, and chemistry. Nadir derives from an Arabic word meaning "opposite"—the opposite, that is, of the zenith, or the highest point of the celestial sphere, the one vertically above the observer. (The word zenith itself is a modification of another Arabic word that means "the way over one's head.") The English poet John Donne is first on record as having used nadir in the figurative sense of "lowest point" in a sermon he wrote in 1627.