bottom

American  

[bot-uhm] / ˈbɒt əm /

noun

• bottoms
  plural

1. the lowest or deepest part of anything, as distinguished from the top.

   the bottom of a hill;

   the bottom of a page;

   the tea leaves at the bottom of my cup.

   Synonyms:

   pedestal, foot, base

2. the under or lower side; underside.

   The sell-by date is printed on the bottom of the package.

3. the ground under any body of water.

   The study sent a camera to the bottom of the sea.

4. Also called bottom land.  Physical Geography. Usually bottoms low alluvial land next to a river.

5. Informal. the buttocks; rump.

6. the seat of a chair.

   Don't sit in that one, the bottom is broken.

7. the fundamental part; basic aspect.

   Synonyms:

   groundwork, foundation

8. the cause; origin; basis.

   Try getting to the bottom of the problem.

   Synonyms:

   wellspring, beginning, genesis, ground, root

9. lowest limit, especially of dignity, status, or rank.

   When people sink that low, they're bound to reach the bottom soon.

10. (used with a plural verb) bottoms, the bottom part of a two-piece article of clothing, such as a bathing suit or a pair of pajamas.

11. Baseball.

    1. the second half of an inning.

    2. the last three players in the batting order.

12. Nautical.

    1. the part of a hull between the bilges, including the keel.

    2. the part of a hull that is immersed at all times.

    3. the cargo space in a vessel.

    4. a cargo vessel.

13. the working part of a plow, comprising the plowshare, landside, and moldboard.

14. Slang.

    1. (in the LGBTQ community) a person who prefers to take or is currently taking a receptive role in a particular sexual act, especially in anal intercourse.

    2. (especially in BDSM) a person who prefers to take or is currently taking a submissive role in a sexual relationship.

15. Chemistry. Usually bottoms the heaviest, least volatile fraction of petroleum, left behind in distillation after more volatile fractions are driven off.

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verb (used with object)

• bottoms,
  present (3rd person singular)
• bottomed,
  past participle,  past
• bottoming
  present participle

1. to furnish with an under or lowest side.

   The oven needed to be bottomed before it could be used.

2. to base or found (usually followed by on orupon ).

   A defense must be bottomed on reliable evidence.

3. to discover the full meaning of (something); fathom.

4. to bring (a submarine) to rest on the ocean floor.

   They had to bottom the sub until the enemy cruisers had passed by.

verb (used without object)

• bottoms,
  present (3rd person singular)
• bottomed,
  past participle,  past
• bottoming
  present participle

1. to be based; rest.

2. to strike against the bottom or end; reach the bottom.

3. (of an automotive vehicle) to sink vertically, as when bouncing after passing over a bump, so that the suspension reaches the lower limit of its motion.

   The car bottomed too easily on the bumpy road.

4. Slang.

   1. (in the LGBTQ community) to take a receptive role in a particular sexual act, especially in anal intercourse.

   2. (especially in BDSM) to take a submissive role in a sexual relationship or encounter.

adjective

1. of or relating to the bottom or a bottom.

2. located on or at the lowest part or side.

   I want the bottom book in the stack.

3. lowest.

   They sold off the last of the stock at bottom prices.

4. living near or on the bottom.

   A flounder is a bottom fish.

5. fundamental.

   The bottom cause of the issue is a lack of funding.

verb phrase

1. bottom out to reach the lowest state or level.

   The declining securities market finally bottomed out and began to rise.

idioms

1. bottoms up, (used as an interjection to announce or urge the downing of one's drink).

2. hit bottom, to fall into the worst of all possible circumstances.

   After all those years of flying high, she finally hit bottom.

   When the housing market crashed, it really hit bottom, leaving people with houses worth less than their mortgages.

3. bet one's bottom dollar,

   1. to wager the last of one's money or resources.

   2. to be positive or assured.

      You can bet your bottom dollar that something will prevent us from leaving on time.

4. at bottom, in reality; fundamentally: Also at the bottom

   They knew at bottom that they were only deceiving themselves.

bottom British  

/ ˈbɒtəm /

noun

1. the lowest, deepest, or farthest removed part of a thing

   the bottom of a hill

2. the least important or successful position

   the bottom of a class

3. the ground underneath a sea, lake, or river

4. to run aground

5. the inner depths of a person's true feelings (esp in the phrase from the bottom of one's heart )

6. the underneath part of a thing

7. nautical the parts of a vessel's hull that are under water

8. (in literary or commercial contexts) a boat or ship

9. billiards snooker a strike in the centre of the cue ball

10. a dry valley or hollow

11. (often plural) the low land bordering a river

12. the lowest level worked in a mine

13. (esp of horses) staying power; stamina

14. importance, seriousness, or influence

    his views all have weight and bottom

15. informal the buttocks

16. in reality; basically or despite appearances to the contrary

    he's a kind man at bottom

17. to be the ultimate cause of

18. to discover the real truth about

19. to destroy or eliminate

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adjective

1. lowest or last

   the bottom price

2. to be absolutely sure of (one's opinion, a person, project, etc)

3. of, relating to, or situated at the bottom or a bottom

   the bottom shelf

4. fundamental; basic

verb

1. (tr) to provide (a chair, etc) with a bottom or seat

2. (tr) to discover the full facts or truth of; fathom

3. to base or be founded (on an idea, etc)

4. (intr) nautical to strike the ground beneath the water with a vessel's bottom

5. mining

   1. to mine (a hole, claim, etc) deep enough to reach any gold there is

   2. to reach (gold, mud, etc) on bottoming

6. electronics to saturate a transistor so that further increase of input produces no change in output

bottom More Idioms  

More idioms and phrases containing bottom

• at bottom
• from head to toe (top to bottom)
• from the bottom of one's heart
• get to the bottom
• hit (touch) bottom
• knock the bottom out of
• rock bottom
• touch bottom
• you bet your ass (bottom dollar)

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• underbottom
  noun
• unbottom
  verb (used with object)

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• bottoms
  plural

Participles

• bottoming
  present
• bottomed
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• bottom
  simple
• bottoms
  simple
• have bottomed
  perfect
• has bottomed
  perfect
• am bottoming
  progressive
• are bottoming
  progressive
• is bottoming
  progressive
• have been bottoming
  perfect progressive
• has been bottoming
  perfect progressive

Past

• bottomed
  simple
• had bottomed
  perfect
• was bottoming
  progressive
• were bottoming
  progressive
• had been bottoming
  perfect progressive

Future

• will bottom
  simple
• will have bottomed
  perfect
• will be bottoming
  progressive
• will have been bottoming
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of bottom

First recorded before 1000; Middle English botme, Old English botm; akin to Old Norse botn, Dutch bodem, German Boden; cognate with Latin fundus, Greek pythmḗn, Sanskrit budhná

Explanation

The bottom of something is its underside, or lowest point. You might practice swimming by diving to the bottom of a swimming pool to retrieve pennies. When you're hungry, you'll eat to the bottom of your ice cream bowl, and if you're looking for your car keys, you may need to dig to the very bottom of your tote bag. A thing's underside is also its bottom, so you might check out the bottom of your foot if you think you have a splinter. Informally, your bottom is also your buttocks, or your backside. It comes from the Old English botm, "ground" or "foundation."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

bottom bottoms bottomed bottoming

Lightly coat the bottom of a skillet with olive oil and set it over medium heat.

From Salon ● Aug. 16, 2026

In the bottom half of the inning, Max Muncy entered the game as a pinch hitter and delivered a go-ahead three-run home run.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 14, 2026

Zbigniew Lewicki, Magnum's chief research, design & innovation officer says innovations like this aren't just a nice-to-have, they're crucial to the business' bottom line.

From BBC ● Aug. 14, 2026

Yet, when a convenient windfall materializes, analysts eagerly wave it through to boost the bottom line.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026

Her bottom went back into her chair as she yanked a drawer open and dropped the envelope into it.

From "The Red Car to Hollywood" by Jennie Liu

It's "bottoms down" for the Daily Star, as it says Westminster City Council is "touting a 'no standing' plan" in pubs.

From BBC ● Aug. 7, 2026

Return the pastries to the oven for 3 to 5 minutes, until the bottoms of the wells feel firm and no longer look raw.

From Salon ● Jul. 20, 2026

The setting sun illuminates the bottoms of those clouds and creates the beautiful sunsets.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 20, 2026

Jeans remain the core of Levi’s business, and skinny, slim, bootcut and straight fits still make up the bulk of its bottoms segment.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 9, 2026

At the same time, he was making the bottoms ring with a peculiar noise that he hadn’t made before.

From "Summer of the Monkeys" by Wilson Rawls

Using that method, gold should have peaked at $6,400 and bottomed at $3,700, he finds.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 3, 2026

KKR sold private-equity investments to boost profits, while Blue Owl said investor withdrawals had bottomed out.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 31, 2026

A handy defence, given that the song bottomed out at number 29 in the UK singles chart, but it's also an essential recalibration.

From BBC ● Jul. 2, 2026

Musselman didn’t exactly deliver on that investment during the 2024-25 season, as USC bottomed out during its first Big Ten men’s basketball slate.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 9, 2026

At the top of the mountain, the road dropped precipitously and swung back and forth until it bottomed out into a long, narrow valley.

From "October Sky" by Homer Hickam

“In wealth, we believe we have seen a bottoming of evergreen inflows in the May 1st close,” Lipshultz said.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 30, 2026

The S&P 500 has advanced more than 11.5% since bottoming out on March 30, recording record highs over three of the last five sessions and extending its advance this year to around 4.1%.

From Barron's ● Apr. 20, 2026

“All of this is why we’ve been expecting any bottoming process to take time and be super volatile.”

From MarketWatch ● Apr. 9, 2026

“We acknowledge the reactive appearance of this call, but what we interpreted as a bottoming process, akin to prior cycles last year, appears less so now,” Zener wrote in a note to clients.

From MarketWatch ● Apr. 7, 2026

“Everything’s fine, Mom,” I said, my stomach bottoming out: We were about to have a family argument right here in front of God and everybody.

From "October Sky" by Homer Hickam

Related Words

• basement
• bed
• floor
• ground
• seat
• underside