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)

WORDS THAT MAY BE CONFUSED WITH zenith

nadir, zenith

Words nearby zenith

zendo, zener diode, Zenger, Zenia, Zenist, zenith, zenithal, zenithal equidistant projection, zenithal projection, zenith distance, zenith telescope

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2022

How to use zenith in a sentence

Last week I wrote about my affection for Knoke, so you can guess who I was rooting for as the hourlong episode reached its zenith.
The ‘Alone’ Finale Left Us Feeling Heartbroken|Fred Dreier|August 5, 2022|Outside Online
On the back of Kerry’s climate diplomacy, Obama and Xi feted each other a year later at a state dinner in Washington—perhaps the zenith of relations between the two countries in recent years.
John Kerry Is Bringing America Back Into the Climate Fight|Justin Worland/Naples. Italy|October 28, 2021|Time
Who was the most erotic poet of the late Renaissance and early Baroque, when the quatrain reached its courtly zenith?
Sor Juana: Mexico’s Most Erotic Poet and Its Most Dangerous Nun|Katie Baker|November 8, 2014|DAILY BEAST
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|DAILY BEAST

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|DAILY BEAST
The major labor unions - then at the zenith of their political power - disliked Johnson.
David's Bookclub: Mutual Contempt|David Frum|April 28, 2013|DAILY BEAST
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|DAILY BEAST
The sky was alight from zenith to horizon, the Nile aflame with sunrise, by the time the letter was written.
The Wave|Algernon Blackwood
The leathered Diapason, indeed, is now attaining a zenith of popularity both in England and America.
The Recent Revolution in Organ Building|George Laing Miller
Coloured shafts mapped the vault from horizon to zenith like the spokes of a prodigious wheel of fire.
The Wave|Algernon Blackwood
The sun, a ball of fiery brass, burned directly in the zenith, so that the shadow of the foliage lay like a carpet about her feet.
Dope|Sax Rohmer
How did it fare with the poor all over Europe in the centuries when Christianity was at the zenith of its power?
God and my Neighbour|Robert Blatchford

British Dictionary definitions for zenith

zenith

/ (ˈzɛnɪθ, US ˈziːnɪθ) /

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 forms of zenith

zenithal, 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

Scientific definitions for zenith

zenith

[ zē′nĭth ]

The point on the celestial sphere that is directly above the observer (90 degrees above the celestial horizon). Compare nadir.

zenith

OTHER WORDS FOR zenith

OPPOSITES FOR zenith

Origin of zenith

WORDS THAT MAY BE CONFUSED WITH zenith

Words nearby zenith

Words related to zenith

How to use zenith in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for zenith

Derived forms of zenith

Word Origin for zenith

Scientific definitions for zenith