horizon means the visible horizontal line (in all directions) where the sky appears to meet the earth in the distance.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, horizon ranks #2,737 of 14,445 for Most Beautiful Words.
horizon is pronounced /həˈɹaɪ.zən/.
Why “horizon” is a great word
The apparent line where the earth's surface and the sky meet, or the limit of one's perception, knowledge, or aspiration. From the Ancient Greek ὁρίζων (horízōn, 'bounding'), from ὅρος (hóros, 'boundary, limit'). Unlike "purview," which denotes a specific scope of authority, or "skyline," which is the visible silhouette of objects against the sky, a horizon is the general and ever-receding limit of the visible or imaginable. It is the thin, sharp cut of sea from air viewed from a lonely deck, the warm band of ochre and rose that cradles the setting sun, and the vanishing point that marches away as you approach—the one true line we are always nearing but can never arrive at, an eternal promise of something beyond.
Etymology
Inherited from Middle English orisonte, orisoun, from Middle French horizon, horizonte, from Old French orisonte, orison, via Latin horizōn, from Ancient Greek ὁρίζων (horízōn), from ὅρος (hóros, “boundary”).
noun
- The visible horizontal line (in all directions) where the sky appears to meet the earth in the distance.“A tall building was visible on the whole sweep of the horizon.”
- The range or limit of one's knowledge, experience or interest; a boundary or threshold.“Some students take a gap year after finishing high school to broaden their horizons.”
- The range or limit of any dimension in which one exists.“Only mortality, this irreducible and primordial horizon, that very horizon which, in Being and Time, Heidegger so compellingly revealed as the unsurpassable and defining possibility, remains.”
- A specific layer of soil, or stratum
- A cultural sub-period or level within a more encompassing time period.
- Any level line or surface.
- The point at which a computer chess algorithm stops searching for further moves.
Words closest in meaning
By meaning, not spelling — each word's AI semantic fingerprint, nearest first.
- expanse 84% match — A wide stretch, usually of sea, sky, or land. vs horizon →
- earthrise 83% match — The event of the Earth rising over the horizon of another celestial body, typically the Moon. vs horizon →
- perspective 83% match — A view, vista or outlook. vs horizon →
- moonrise 82% match — The time of day or night when the moon begins to rise over the horizon. vs horizon →
- heaven 82% match — The sky, specifically:; The distant sky in which the sun, moon, and stars appear or move; the firmament; the celestial spheres. vs horizon →
- offing 82% match — The area of the sea in which a ship can be seen in the distance from land, excluding the parts nearest the shore, and beyond the anchoring ground. vs horizon →
- sunset 82% match — The moment each evening when the sun disappears below the western horizon. vs horizon →
- parallax 82% match — An apparent shift in the position of two stationary objects relative to each other as viewed by an observer, due to a change in observer position. vs horizon →