zenith

[zee-nith or, esp. British, zen-ith]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR zenith ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

the point on the celestial sphere vertically above a given position or observer.Compare nadir.

a highest point or state; culmination.

Origin of zenith

1350–1400; Middle English cenith < Medieval Latin < Old Spanish zenit, scribal error for zemt < Arabic samt road, incorrectly read as senit by medieval scribes (compare Arabic samt ar-rās road above (over) one's head, the opposite of nadir)

Can be confusednadir zenith

Synonyms for zenith

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR zenith ON THESAURUS.COM

2. apex, summit.

Antonyms for zenith

1, 2. nadir.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for zenith

Contemporary Examples of zenith

This reached its zenith when he and Jon Stewart held their Rally to Restore Sanity And/Or Fear in 2010.
Which Stephen Colbert Will We See on CBS?
Tim Teeman
April 10, 2014
In his own mind he is at the zenith of his life, a man in full.
My Week At An Austrian Fat Camp
Owen Matthews
October 27, 2013
The major labor unions - then at the zenith of their political power - disliked Johnson.
David's Bookclub: Mutual Contempt
David Frum
April 28, 2013
In 1986, at the zenith of her strength, that figure was reduced to 1.9 million.
How Margaret Thatcher Saved Britain and Changed the World
David Frum
April 8, 2013
(a) The early 1990s were the period of the crack epidemic, the zenith of American gun crime.
David's Bookclub: Private Guns, Public Health
David Frum
March 31, 2013

Historical Examples of zenith

The Gladstone period had passed its zenith and its decadence had already begun.
The Grand Old Man
Richard B. Cook
But no human being had interfered with their journey, and their hopes rose to the zenith.
The Rock of Chickamauga
Joseph A. Altsheler
At the moment of his return to Thessaly he had reached the zenith of his greatness.
Hellenica
Xenophon
Now these Phliasians were friends of Lacedaemon while at the zenith of her power.
Hellenica
Xenophon
The Cherubim and Seraphim have wings that elevate them above our zenith.
Continental Monthly, Vol. III, No IV, April 1863
Various

British Dictionary definitions for zenith

zenith

noun

astronomy the point on the celestial sphere vertically above an observer

the highest point; peak; acmethe zenith of someone's achievements

Compare nadir

Derived Formszenithal, adjective

Word Origin for zenith

C17: from French cenith, from Medieval Latin, from Old Spanish zenit, based on Arabic samt, as in samt arrās path over one's head, from samt way, path + al the + rās head

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for zenith

late 14c., from Old French cenith (Modern French zénith), from Medieval Latin cenit, senit, bungled scribal transliterations of Arabic samt "road, path," abbreviation of samt ar-ras, literally "the way over the head." Letter -m- misread as -ni-.

The Medieval Latin word could as well be influenced by the rough agreement of the Arabic term with classical Latin semita "sidetrack, side path" (notion of "thing going off to the side"), from se- "apart" + *mi-ta-, suffixed zero-grade form of PIE root *mei- "to change" (see mutable).

Science definitions for zenith