zenith
Pluralzeniths
- 1The highest point or state that something reaches; its peak.
At the zenith of its power, the empire stretched from the sea to the mountains.
The band reached its zenith in the late 1970s and never quite matched it again.
UsageUsually the zenith of something or at its zenith; the opposite is nadir.
Similarpinnacle, apex, acme, culmination, apogee
Oppositenadir
Note
The figure carries astrology in its bones: in The Tempest Prospero says "my zenith doth depend upon a most auspicious star", meaning his fortune at its height.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- Prospero speaks the quoted words in The Tempest, Act 1, scene 2. folger.edu
- The passage connects the height of Prospero's fortunes with astrological influence; this interpretation is supported by the surrounding speech. folger.edu
- 2The point in the sky directly above an observer, opposite the nadir; also, more loosely, the highest point in the sky that the sun or another celestial body reaches.
A column of smoke climbed from the horizon nearly to the zenith.
The telescope was pointed straight at the zenith, where starlight passes through the least air.
Oppositenadir
Note
Every observer has a zenith of their own, with the nadir directly beneath their feet. From horizon to zenith is the stock way to say that something filled the whole height of the sky, whether a comet's tail or a pillar of cloud.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- The zenith is defined relative to an observer and lies directly overhead. science.nasa.gov
- The nadir points directly downward from the observer's location. en.wikipedia.org
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Origin
Arabic samt ar-raʔs ("the head's direction"), shortened to samt ("direction, path"), became Medieval Latin cenit and then Middle English cenyth. Some think the -ni- that replaced -m- came from someone misreading the three strokes. That is plausible, but it could simply be an approximation of the sound.