zenithal, adj.

zenithal
http://www.oed.com/dictionary/zenithal_adj%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_use
Revised 2018

# zenithaladjective

## Earlier version

- zenithal, a. in OED Second Edition (1989)

## Factsheet

### What does the adjective zenithal mean?

There are two meanings listed in OED's entry for the adjective zenithal. See ‘Meaning & use’ for definitions, usage, and quotation evidence.

### How common is the adjective zenithal?

About 0.02occurrences per million words in modern written English

1750 | 0.0014
1760 | 0.0011
1770 | 0.0009
1780 | 0.0008
1790 | 0.0004
1800 | 0.0004
1810 | 0.001
1820 | 0.0022
1830 | 0.0032
1840 | 0.0052
1850 | 0.0065
1860 | 0.008
1870 | 0.0098
1880 | 0.012
1890 | 0.013
1900 | 0.019
1910 | 0.023
1920 | 0.032
1930 | 0.038
1940 | 0.039
1950 | 0.039
1960 | 0.039
1970 | 0.035
1980 | 0.03
1990 | 0.023
2000 | 0.017
2010 | 0.017

### How is the adjective zenithal pronounced?

#### British English

/ˈzɛnᵻθl/
ZEN-uh-thuhl

#### U.S. English

/ˈzinᵻθəl/
ZEE-nuh-thuhl

### Where does the adjective zenithal come from?

Earliest known use

mid 1700s

The earliest known use of the adjective zenithal is in the mid 1700s.

OED's earliest evidence for zenithal is from around 1731, in the writing of J. Squire.

zenithal is formed within English, by derivation.

Etymons: zenith n., ‑al suffix1.

### Nearby entries

1. Zendish, adj. & n. 1802–1921
2. Zendist, n. 1877–1907
3. zendo, n. 1914–
4. Zener, n.¹ 1934–
5. Zener, n.² 1949–
6. Zengakuren, n. 1950–
7. Zen garden, n. 1937–
8. zenick, n. 1801–1900
9. zenitfer, n. 1596–
10. zenith, n. & adj. a1387–
11. zenithal, adj.?1731–
12. zenithal projection, n. 1877–
13. zenith-borne, adj. 1865–86
14. zenith distance, n. 1588–
15. zenith line, n. 1585–
16. zenith point, n. 1585–
17. zenith sector, n. 1775–
18. zenith sweep, n. 1790–
19. zenith telescope, n. 1803–
20. zenith tube, n. 1825–
21. zenithward, n., adv., & adj. 1655–

## Etymology

### Summary

Formed within English, by derivation.
< zenith n. + ‑al suffix1…
< zenith n. + ‑al suffix1.

### Notes

Compare French zénital, (now usually) zénithal (1612 in an apparently isolated attestation in point zénithal, subsequently from the early 19th cent.).

## Meaning & use

1. 1.
   ?1731–
   Situated or occurring at the zenith; relating to or in the direction of the zenith.
   1. ?1731

      > Beginning our Account of Longitude at Bethlehem, and in that Part of the Heavens which was Zenithal to it..will indulge our Christian Gratitude.

      J. Squire, Proposal to determine Longitude 2
   2. 1860

      > The deep zenithal blue.

      J. Tyndall, Glaciers of Alps i. v. 39
   3. 1869

      > Beta and Gamma Draconis..were the two zenithal stars in June.

      E. Dunkin, Midnight Sky 57
   4. 1939

      > The two zenithal periods follow each other more closely as latitude increases, until at the tropics themselves the periods become one.

      E. D. Laborde, translation of E. de Martonne, Shorter Physical Geography (revised edition) iii. 60
   5. 1961

      > A continuous distribution of the O blood-group gene frequencies in Europe was..redrawn on a map of zenithal equal-area projection.

      L. F. Brosnahan, Sounds of Language iii. 74
   6. 2008

      > The station..begins to be visible in our evening sky and within a week it is making spectacular zenithal passes over southern England.

      Guardian 17 September 37/3
   astronomy
   1. vertical 1593–
      Of or pertaining to, placed or situated at, passing through, the vertex or zenith; occupying a position… Of the sun, stars, etc., or in general use.
   2. zenithal?1731–
      Situated or occurring at the zenith; relating to or in the direction of the zenith.
   View in Historical Thesaurus
2. 2.
   1891–
   figurative. That is, or represents, the highest or best point of something; culminating; supreme; = zenith adj.
   1. 1891

      > A zenithal paradise, a nadiral hell.

      T. Hardy, Tess of the D'Urbervilles vol. II. xxv. 56
   2. 1903

      > They have known the zenithal instant of piscatorial life.

      Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine November 651/1
   3. 1995

      > This is capitalism at work at its zenithal moment in history.

      International Business November 8/1
   1. peaked c1350–
      Having or reaching a peak; projecting, pointed; cut, trimmed, or brought to a peak or point.
   2. culminant 1605–
      Of a heavenly body: That has reached its greatest altitude, that is on the meridian; hence figurative that is at its greatest height.
   3. headed a1616
      That has developed or come to a head like a boil or abscess. Obsolete. rare.
   4. meridian a1657–1903
      Relating to or characteristic of the point or period of highest development or splendour of a person, state, institution, etc. Obsolete.
   5. climacteric 1789–
      = climactic, adj.
   6. zenith 1828–
      That is, or represents, the highest or best point of something; most successful, powerful, significant, etc.; culminating; supreme. Cf. sense A.3.
   7. zenithal 1891–
      figurative. That is, or represents, the highest or best point of something; culminating; supreme; = zenith, adj.
   8. climacterical 1896–1918
      That acts as a climax; = climactic, adj. 1. Obsolete.
   View in Historical Thesaurus

## Pronunciation

### British English

/ˈzɛnᵻθl/
ZEN-uh-thuhl

### U.S. English

/ˈzinᵻθəl/
ZEE-nuh-thuhl

####

##### Consonants

- ppea
- ttea
- kkey
- bbuy
- ddye
- ɡguy
- tʃchore
- dʒjay
- ffore
- θthaw
- ssore
- ʃshore
- vvee
- ðthee
- zzee
- ʒbeige
- xloch
- hhay
- llay
- ɬrhingyll
- rray
- wway
- jyore
- mmay
- nnay
- ŋsing

Some consonants can take the function of the vowel in unstressed syllables. Where necessary, a syllabic marker diacritic is used, hence /ˈpɛtl/ but /ˈpɛtl̩i/.

##### Vowels

- iːfleece
- ihappy
- ɪkit
- ɛdress
- atrap, bath
- ɑːstart, palm, bath
- ɒlot
- ɔːthought, force
- ʌstrut
- ʊfoot
- uːgoose
- əletter
- əːnurse
- ɪənear
- ɛːsquare
- ʊəcure
- eɪface
- ʌɪpride
- aʊmouth
- əʊgoat
- ɔɪvoice
- ãgratin
- ɒ̃salon
- ᵻ(/ɪ/-/ə/)
- ᵿ(/ʊ/-/ə/)

##### Other symbols

- The symbol ˈ at the beginning of a syllable indicates that that syllable is pronounced with primary stress.
- The symbol ˌ at the beginning of a syllable indicates that that syllable is pronounced with secondary stress.
- Round brackets ( ) in a transcription indicate that the symbol within the brackets is optional.

View the pronunciation model here.

####

##### Consonants

- ppea
- ttea
- kkey
- bbuy
- ddye*
- ɡguy
- tʃchore
- dʒjay
- ffore
- θthaw
- ssore
- ʃshore
- vvee
- ðthee
- zzee
- ʒbeige
- xloch
- hhay
- llay
- rray
- wway
- jyore
- mmay
- nnay
- ŋsing

* /d/ also represents a 'tapped' /t/ as in

Some consonants can take the function of the vowel in unstressed syllables. Where necessary, a syllabic marker diacritic is used, hence /ˈpɛd(ə)l/ but /ˈpɛdl̩i/.

##### Vowels

- ifleece, happy
- ɪkit
- ɛdress
- ætrap, bath
- ɑlot, palm, cloth, thought
- ɑrstart
- ɔcloth, thought
- ɔrnorth, force
- ʊfoot
- ugoose
- əstrut, comma
- ərnurse, letter
- ɪ(ə)rnear
- ɛ(ə)rsquare
- ʊ(ə)rcure
- eɪface
- aɪpride
- aʊmouth
- oʊgoat
- ɔɪvoice
- ɑ̃gratin
- æ̃salon
- ᵻ(/ɪ/-/ə/)
- ᵿ(/ʊ/-/ə/)

##### Other symbols

- The symbol ˈ at the beginning of a syllable indicates that that syllable is pronounced with primary stress.
- The symbol ˌ at the beginning of a syllable indicates that that syllable is pronounced with secondary stress.
- Round brackets ( ) in a transcription indicate that the symbol within the brackets is optional.

View the pronunciation model here.

####

Simple text respell breaks words into syllables, separated by a hyphen. The syllable which carries the primary stress is written in capital letters. This key covers both British and U.S. English Simple Text Respell.

##### Consonants

b, d, f, h, k, l, m, n, p, r, s, t, v, w and z have their standard English values

- gguy
- jjay
- yyore
- chchore
- khloch
- shshore
- ththaw
- dhthee
- zhbeige

##### Vowels

- atrap
- ahpalm
- airsquare
- arstart
- arrcarry (British only)
- awthought
- ayface
- a(ng)gratin
- edress
- eefleece
- eerdeer
- errmerry
- ikit
- ighpride
- irrmirror
- olot (British only)
- ohgoat
- oogoose
- oorcure
- orforce
- orrsorry (British only)
- owmouth
- oyvoice
- o(ng)salon
- ustrut
- uhletter
- urnurse
- urrhurry
- uufoot

## Forms

### Variant forms

1. 1700s–
   zenithal
2. 1800s–
   zenital

## Frequency

zenithal typically occurs about 0.02 times per million words in modern written English.

zenithal is in frequency band 3, which contains words occurring between 0.01 and 0.1 times per million words in modern written English. More about OED's frequency bands

Frequency data is computed programmatically, and should be regarded as an estimate.

### Frequency of zenithal, adj., 1750–2010

* Occurrences per million words in written English

Historical frequency series are derived from Google Books Ngrams (version 2), a data set based on the Google Books corpus of several million books printed in English between 1500 and 2010.

The overall frequency for a given word is calculated by summing frequencies for the main form of the word, any plural or inflected forms, and any major spelling variations.

For sets of homographs (distinct entries that share the same word-form, e.g. mole, n.¹, mole, n.², mole, n.³, etc.), we have estimated the frequency of each homograph entry as a fraction of the total Ngrams frequency for the word-form. This may result in inaccuracies.

Smoothing has been applied to series for lower-frequency words, using a moving-average algorithm. This reduces short-term fluctuations, which may be produced by variability in the content of the Google Books corpus.

Decade | Frequency per million words
--- | ---
1750 | 0.0014
1760 | 0.0011
1770 | 0.0009
1780 | 0.0008
1790 | 0.0004
1800 | 0.0004
1810 | 0.001
1820 | 0.0022
1830 | 0.0032
1840 | 0.0052
1850 | 0.0065
1860 | 0.008
1870 | 0.0098
1880 | 0.012
1890 | 0.013
1900 | 0.019
1910 | 0.023
1920 | 0.032
1930 | 0.038
1940 | 0.039
1950 | 0.039
1960 | 0.039
1970 | 0.035
1980 | 0.03
1990 | 0.023
2000 | 0.017
2010 | 0.017

## Compounds & derived words

Sort by

1. zenithal projection, n. 1877–
   Any of a class of map projections in which a…

1. circumzenithal, adj. 1882–
   Around or about the zenith.

zenithal, adj. was revised in June 2018.

zenithal, adj. was last modified in December 2024.