Answer: "High point" and "low point" synonyms
What are different "high point" and "low point" synonyms, and how can you tell the difference?
Unfortunately, since I’m not well versed in Greek and Latin roots-which would make identifying “high point” and “low point” synonyms much easier-I’ve got to look things up. Lucky for me, dictionary.com’s thesaurus function makes it easy to find synonyms for any word.
A quick search for “high point” synonyms at dictionary.com brings up words like acme, apogee, climax, culmination, height, optimum, peak, summit, top, ultimate and zenith. These can be divided into nouns, adjectives, the most commonly used, and the least commonly used.
The nouns, like acme, apogee, climax, culmination, height, optimum, peak, summit, and top, should be used when talking about a physical or metaphorical high point as an object or location:
Dean smirked as the Impala slid in front of Sam’s Dodge Charger. It didn’t matter that he hadn’t driven her for a year-he was still at the top of his game.
“What, so we’re going to go in, guns blazing, at high noon?”
“I don’t see why we would need to wait until the sun reaches its zenith, Dean,” Castiel replied.
The ability to destroy Lilith had been the culmination of Sam’s demonic powers.
The adjectives, like ultimate and (depending on how they’re being used) top and peak, should be used when describing something else as being the high point:
Dean tossed his phone onto the table. “So you couldn’t answer the last fifty times we called, but now that you need our help, you’re here? Nice, Cas. I see you’re operating at peak ‘dick angel’ mode again.”
The Winchesters’ ultimate goal hadn’t been to piss off Heaven and its angels, but to stop the Apocalypse. Pissing off Heaven just sort of happened.
The most commonly used “high point” synonyms are ones that can be used for almost anything, and the least commonly used are the ones that are generally restricted to specific meanings. Zenith, for instance, usually refers to “the point on the celestial sphere vertically above a given position or observer” and is most often used in astronomy, while summit usually refers to a mountain’s peak. That doesn’t mean we can’t use them to mean a different kind of high point, though. Checking the usage notes and examples provided with the definitions can give a good idea of how to use these synonyms in different contexts.
“Low point” synonyms include all-time low, bottom, floor, nadir, record low, rock bottom, and zero level. They’re generally used as nouns:
Mei was the third chick to turn him down tonight. He hated to admit it, but it looked like the Sha Gojyo charm was at an all-time low.
Sanzo’s patience finally hit rock bottom-he didn’t even bother to shout at them before whipping out his harisen and whacking them over the head.
As with the synonyms for “high point,” some of these are more common than others (all-time low, record low, and rock bottom). Nadir can relate directly to astronomy and mean “the point on the celestial sphere directly beneath a given position or observer and diametrically opposite the zenith,” or it can mean a more general low point. That said, a more academic-minded character, like Cho Hakkai, would be much more likely to use nadir both in the general sense and the astronomic sense than a less educated character, like Son Goku. So just like with the “high point” synonyms, it’s a good idea to check the usage notes and examples for each of these words before picking one.
There’s also another, easier way to find synonyms: highlight the words in your MS Word doc, right-click, choose the “Synonym” option, and voila! Instant synonyms at your fingertips. But be careful! MS Word doesn’t provide definitions for the words, so unless you’re absolutely certain you know the ins and outs of a particular synonym’s common usage, you should probably look it up the first time.
Sources:
“high point” at thesaurus.com
“low point” at thesaurus.com
“nadir” at dictionary.com
“zenith” at dictionary.com
Unfortunately, since I’m not well versed in Greek and Latin roots-which would make identifying “high point” and “low point” synonyms much easier-I’ve got to look things up. Lucky for me, dictionary.com’s thesaurus function makes it easy to find synonyms for any word.
A quick search for “high point” synonyms at dictionary.com brings up words like acme, apogee, climax, culmination, height, optimum, peak, summit, top, ultimate and zenith. These can be divided into nouns, adjectives, the most commonly used, and the least commonly used.
The nouns, like acme, apogee, climax, culmination, height, optimum, peak, summit, and top, should be used when talking about a physical or metaphorical high point as an object or location:
Dean smirked as the Impala slid in front of Sam’s Dodge Charger. It didn’t matter that he hadn’t driven her for a year-he was still at the top of his game.
“What, so we’re going to go in, guns blazing, at high noon?”
“I don’t see why we would need to wait until the sun reaches its zenith, Dean,” Castiel replied.
The ability to destroy Lilith had been the culmination of Sam’s demonic powers.
The adjectives, like ultimate and (depending on how they’re being used) top and peak, should be used when describing something else as being the high point:
Dean tossed his phone onto the table. “So you couldn’t answer the last fifty times we called, but now that you need our help, you’re here? Nice, Cas. I see you’re operating at peak ‘dick angel’ mode again.”
The Winchesters’ ultimate goal hadn’t been to piss off Heaven and its angels, but to stop the Apocalypse. Pissing off Heaven just sort of happened.
The most commonly used “high point” synonyms are ones that can be used for almost anything, and the least commonly used are the ones that are generally restricted to specific meanings. Zenith, for instance, usually refers to “the point on the celestial sphere vertically above a given position or observer” and is most often used in astronomy, while summit usually refers to a mountain’s peak. That doesn’t mean we can’t use them to mean a different kind of high point, though. Checking the usage notes and examples provided with the definitions can give a good idea of how to use these synonyms in different contexts.
“Low point” synonyms include all-time low, bottom, floor, nadir, record low, rock bottom, and zero level. They’re generally used as nouns:
Mei was the third chick to turn him down tonight. He hated to admit it, but it looked like the Sha Gojyo charm was at an all-time low.
Sanzo’s patience finally hit rock bottom-he didn’t even bother to shout at them before whipping out his harisen and whacking them over the head.
As with the synonyms for “high point,” some of these are more common than others (all-time low, record low, and rock bottom). Nadir can relate directly to astronomy and mean “the point on the celestial sphere directly beneath a given position or observer and diametrically opposite the zenith,” or it can mean a more general low point. That said, a more academic-minded character, like Cho Hakkai, would be much more likely to use nadir both in the general sense and the astronomic sense than a less educated character, like Son Goku. So just like with the “high point” synonyms, it’s a good idea to check the usage notes and examples for each of these words before picking one.
There’s also another, easier way to find synonyms: highlight the words in your MS Word doc, right-click, choose the “Synonym” option, and voila! Instant synonyms at your fingertips. But be careful! MS Word doesn’t provide definitions for the words, so unless you’re absolutely certain you know the ins and outs of a particular synonym’s common usage, you should probably look it up the first time.
Sources:
“high point” at thesaurus.com
“low point” at thesaurus.com
“nadir” at dictionary.com
“zenith” at dictionary.com