bottom
Americannoun
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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.
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the under or lower side; underside.
The sell-by date is printed on the bottom of the package.
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the ground under any body of water.
The study sent a camera to the bottom of the sea.
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Also called bottom land. Physical Geography. Usually bottoms low alluvial land next to a river.
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the seat of a chair.
Don't sit in that one, the bottom is broken.
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the fundamental part; basic aspect.
- Synonyms:
- groundwork, foundation
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Try getting to the bottom of the problem.
- Synonyms:
- wellspring, beginning, genesis, ground, root
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lowest limit, especially of dignity, status, or rank.
When people sink that low, they're bound to reach the bottom soon.
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(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.
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Baseball.
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the second half of an inning.
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the last three players in the batting order.
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Nautical.
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the part of a hull between the bilges, including the keel.
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the part of a hull that is immersed at all times.
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the cargo space in a vessel.
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a cargo vessel.
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the working part of a plow, comprising the plowshare, landside, and moldboard.
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Slang.
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(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.
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(especially in BDSM) a person who prefers to take or is currently taking a submissive role in a sexual relationship.
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Chemistry. Usually bottoms the heaviest, least volatile fraction of petroleum, left behind in distillation after more volatile fractions are driven off.
verb (used with object)
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to furnish with an under or lowest side.
The oven needed to be bottomed before it could be used.
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to base or found (usually followed by on orupon ).
A defense must be bottomed on reliable evidence.
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to discover the full meaning of (something); fathom.
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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)
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to be based; rest.
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to strike against the bottom or end; reach the bottom.
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(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.
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Slang.
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(in the LGBTQ community) to take a receptive role in a particular sexual act, especially in anal intercourse.
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(especially in BDSM) to take a submissive role in a sexual relationship or encounter.
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adjective
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of or relating to the bottom or a bottom.
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located on or at the lowest part or side.
I want the bottom book in the stack.
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lowest.
They sold off the last of the stock at bottom prices.
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living near or on the bottom.
A flounder is a bottom fish.
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The bottom cause of the issue is a lack of funding.
verb phrase
idioms
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bottoms up, (used as an interjection to announce or urge the downing of one's drink).
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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.
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bet one's bottom dollar,
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to wager the last of one's money or resources.
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to be positive or assured.
You can bet your bottom dollar that something will prevent us from leaving on time.
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at bottom, in reality; fundamentally: Also at the bottom
They knew at bottom that they were only deceiving themselves.
noun
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the lowest, deepest, or farthest removed part of a thing
the bottom of a hill
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the least important or successful position
the bottom of a class
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the ground underneath a sea, lake, or river
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to run aground
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the inner depths of a person's true feelings (esp in the phrase from the bottom of one's heart )
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the underneath part of a thing
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nautical the parts of a vessel's hull that are under water
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(in literary or commercial contexts) a boat or ship
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billiards snooker a strike in the centre of the cue ball
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a dry valley or hollow
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(often plural) the low land bordering a river
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the lowest level worked in a mine
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(esp of horses) staying power; stamina
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importance, seriousness, or influence
his views all have weight and bottom
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informal the buttocks
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in reality; basically or despite appearances to the contrary
he's a kind man at bottom
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to be the ultimate cause of
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to discover the real truth about
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to destroy or eliminate
adjective
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lowest or last
the bottom price
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to be absolutely sure of (one's opinion, a person, project, etc)
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of, relating to, or situated at the bottom or a bottom
the bottom shelf
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fundamental; basic
verb
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(tr) to provide (a chair, etc) with a bottom or seat
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(tr) to discover the full facts or truth of; fathom
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to base or be founded (on an idea, etc)
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(intr) nautical to strike the ground beneath the water with a vessel's bottom
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mining
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to mine (a hole, claim, etc) deep enough to reach any gold there is
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to reach (gold, mud, etc) on bottoming
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electronics to saturate a transistor so that further increase of input produces no change in output
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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bottomsimple
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bottomssimple
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have bottomedperfect
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has bottomedperfect
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am bottomingprogressive
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are bottomingprogressive
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is bottomingprogressive
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have been bottomingperfect progressive
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has been bottomingperfect progressive
Past
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bottomedsimple
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had bottomedperfect
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was bottomingprogressive
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were bottomingprogressive
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had been bottomingperfect progressive
Future
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."
Vocabulary lists containing bottom
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Edwards Lifesciences narrowed its full-year sales guidance to $6.6 billion to $6.9 billion, raising the bottom end of its previous range.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 23, 2026
He held up on a curveball from Phillies right-hander Aaron Nola that clipped the bottom of the strike zone.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 23, 2026
Arokodare signed for £24m from Genk last summer but scored just three league goals as Wolves finished bottom of the Premier League and were relegated.
From BBC ● Jul. 22, 2026
Everything else about it was bigger too, most astonishingly the bottom line revealed by the document.
From Slate ● Jul. 22, 2026
The top line says ‘Hans Van d B, Ingrid Van d B’, the bottom ‘Markus’.
From "Code Name Kingfisher" by Liz Kessler
“With valuations having almost doubled off the bottoms post Q1, and on-cycle names unlikely to show material inflections, we lean more cautious heading into the on-cycle prints,” the analysts write.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 21, 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
It shows him coming down several flights of stairs, wearing tracksuit bottoms and no shoes or top.
From BBC ● Jun. 25, 2026
They hid copies in their underwear, in their shoes, under false bottoms in their vehicles, and in tin cans.
From "At Last She Stood" by Erin Entrada Kelly
Chip stocks may not have bottomed, but it’s close.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 22, 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
The stock bottomed out and subsequently doubled after the loss was baked into predictions.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 17, 2026
A painful screech of metal on cement raked our ears as the chassis bottomed out.
From "Schooled" by Gordon Korman
“As this correction matures, the transfer of supply from long-term holders to newer hands at discounted prices remains a necessary part of the bottoming process,” says the firm in a note.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 11, 2026
He said it reminds him of 2008, when gold initially sold off with equities before bottoming in November 2008 — and it “hasn’t looked back since.”
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 10, 2026
China will also release its latest housing price index on Monday, with investors looking for any further signs of property prices bottoming out.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 15, 2026
The daily chart shows signs of firm bottoming.
From Barron's ● May 6, 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
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
