different between zenithal vs zenith

English

Etymology

From zenith +? -al.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?z?n.???l/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?zi.n???l/

Adjective

zenithal (not comparable)

1. Of or pertaining to a zenith.
   • 1891, Thomas Hardy, Tess of the d’Urbervilles, Phase the Fourth, Chapter 25,^[1]

     […] since he had last shared in the Vicarage life it had grown even more distinctly foreign to his own than usual. Its transcendental aspirations—still unconsciously based on the geocentric view of things, a zenithal paradise, a nadiral hell—were as foreign to his own as if they had been the dreams of people on another planet.

2. (cartography, of a projection) azimuthal

Translations

English

Etymology

From Middle English cenyth, from Medieval Latin cenit, from Arabic ?????? (samt, “direction, path”), from the fuller form ????? ?????????? (samt ar-ra?s, “direction of the head”). The -ni- for -m- is sometimes thought to be due to a misreading of the three strokes, which is plausible, though it could be a mere phonetic approximation.

Pronunciation

• (UK, General Australian) IPA^(key): /?z?n.??/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?zi.n??/

Noun

zenith (plural zeniths)

1. (astronomy) The point in the sky vertically above a given position or observer; the point in the celestial sphere opposite the nadir.

   Antonyms: nadir, perigee

   • 1638 Herbert, Sir Thomas Some years travels into divers parts of Asia and Afrique

   • 1671–1693: Rev. Thomas Jolly, private notebook; printed in: 1895, Henry Fishwick (editor), The Note Book of the Rev. Thomas Jolly: A.D. 1671–1693. Extracts from the Church Books of Altham and Wymondhouses, 1649–1725. And an Account of the Jolly Family of Standish, Gorton, and Altham, page 44

   • 1938, Xavier Herbert, Capricornia, New York: D. Appleton-Century, 1943, Chapter XI, p. 180, [1]

2. (astronomy) The highest point in the sky reached by a celestial body.
   • 1719- Daniel Defoe, Robinson Crusoe

   • 1920, Peter B. Kyne, The Understanding Heart, Chapter II:

3. (by extension) Highest point or state; peak.

   Synonyms: acme, apogee, culmination, pinnacle

Antonyms

• antizenith

Derived terms

Related terms

• azimuth, nadir

Translations

Further reading

• zenith on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• Heintz, Hintze