Nadir Nadir The nadir (, ; from / ALA-LC: "naẓīr", meaning "counterpart") is the direction pointing directly "below" a particular location; that is, it is one of two vertical directions at a specified location, orthogonal to a horizontal flat surface there. Since the concept of "being below" is itself somewhat vague, scientists define the nadir in more rigorous terms. Specifically, in astronomy, geophysics and related sciences (e.g., meteorology), the nadir at a given point is the local vertical direction pointing in the direction of the force of gravity at that location. The direction opposite the nadir is the zenith. Nadir is
Opposite (semantics) generally be determined by the question "What is the opposite of X ?" The term antonym (and the related antonymy) is commonly taken to be synonymous with opposite, but antonym also has other more restricted meanings. Graded (or gradable) antonyms are word pairs whose meanings are opposite and which lie on a continuous spectrum (hot, cold). Complementary antonyms are word pairs whose meanings are opposite but whose meanings do not lie on a continuous spectrum ("push", "pull"). Relational antonyms are word pairs where opposite makes sense only in the context of the relationship between the two meanings ("teacher", "pupil"). These