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Word of the Day Archive
Thursday January 6, 2000

nadir \NAY-dir; nay-DIR\, noun:
1. [Astronomy]. The point of the celestial sphere directly opposite the zenith and directly below the observer.
2. The lowest point; the time of greatest depression or adversity.

Exploitation reached a nadir in the 1920s, when high government officials were implicated in a flourishing international slave trade and domestic forced labor.
-- Bill Berkeley, The Graves Are Not Yet Full

At the nadir of every recession, business pages fill up with stories of belt-tightening families who move to Vermont and buy their food in bulk.
-- Peter T. Kilborn, "Splurge", New York Times, June 21, 1998

Nadir is derived from Arabic nazir, "opposite."

Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for nadir

 

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