bottom line

American  

noun

1. the last line of a financial statement, used for showing net profit or loss.

2. net profit or loss.

3. the deciding or crucial factor.

4. the ultimate result; outcome.

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bottom line British  

noun

1. the last line of a financial statement that shows the net profit or loss of a company or organization

2. the final outcome of a process, discussion, etc

3. the most important or fundamental aspect of a situation

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bottom line Cultural  

1. The last line in an audit, which shows profit or loss.

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bottom line Idioms  

1. The ultimate result, the upshot; also, the main point or crucial factor. For example, The bottom line is that the chairman wants to dictate all of the board's decisions, or Whether or not he obeyed the law is the bottom line. This is an accounting term that refers to the earnings figures that appear on the bottom (last) line of a statement. It began to be transferred to other contexts in the mid-1900s.

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“Bottom line” also has a derogatory implication when it refers to those people whose attention to the bottom line prevents them from recognizing the value of anything else.

By extension, “bottom line” refers to the final, determining consideration in a decision.

Other Word Forms

• bottom-line adjective

Etymology

Origin of bottom line

First recorded in 1965–70

Example Sentences

While the extreme volatility that greeted the start of the week has calmed, traders remained on edge over the impact of artificial intelligence on companies' bottom lines.

From Barron's

The results came in below company and analyst expectations, and took the company’s top and bottom lines lower on year.

From The Wall Street Journal

Profits however fell nearly 6%, as rising content and distribution costs weighed on the bottom line.

From BBC

The lender is looking to strike a balance between expanding its top and bottom lines while continuing to hand excess capital to shareholders at a time when interest rates have come down.

From The Wall Street Journal

The bottom line on bonds for most of Jay Spector’s clients, meanwhile, is that they are an investment vehicle, not a “shock absorber.”

From MarketWatch

Related Words

• cardinal
• critical
• crucial
• essential
• fundamental
• important
• indispensable