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• rock bottom
  rock bottom

  noun

  the very lowest level.
• rock-bottom
  rock-bottom

  adjective

  at the lowest possible limit or level; extremely low.

rock bottom

¹ American  

noun

1. the very lowest level.

   He went bankrupt and touched rock bottom.

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rock-bottom ² American  

[rok-bot-uhm] / ˈrɒkˈbɒt əm /

adjective

1. at the lowest possible limit or level; extremely low.

   rock-bottom prices.

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rock bottom British  

noun

1. 1. the lowest possible level

   2. ( as modifier )

      rock-bottom prices

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rock bottom Idioms  

1. The lowest possible level, absolute bottom, as in Wheat prices have reached rock bottom. This idiom alludes to the presence of bedrock that prevents digging farther down. [Late 1800s]

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Etymology

Origin of rock bottom¹

An Americanism dating back to 1865–70

Origin of rock-bottom²

First recorded in 1880–85

Explanation

Use the adjective rock-bottom to describe something that can't be any lower, especially a price. If a store is selling TVs at rock-bottom prices, you probably can't find one any cheaper. You'll almost always find this word describing the low price tag of something that's on sale or that has a very low cost. The rock-bottom prices for books can usually be found online or in a used book store or yard sale, rather than at a new book store. And you'll get rock-bottom prices on groceries if you clip coupons and buy store brands. Rock-bottom was coined sometime in the late nineteenth century.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

rock bottom rock-bottom

Bishop Alemany’s Dennis Keyes takes over a program that hit rock bottom.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 19, 2026

"To some degree, you have to hit rock bottom to learn," he told BBC Sport.

From BBC ● Jun. 10, 2026

The players have looked fed up as well - morale, confidence, belief and team spirit is at rock bottom and there was no way that Still was going to survive this.

From BBC ● May 3, 2026

Relations between the two neighbours hit rock bottom before Hungary's April 12 election that saw Magyar beat long-time nationalist premier Viktor Orban.

From Barron's ● Apr. 28, 2026

When your family’s one missed check away from rock bottom?

From "On the Come Up" by Angie Thomas

Many of these markets, particularly in the Sun Belt, saw a big run-up in prices during the pandemic home-buying frenzy fueled by rock-bottom interest rates.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 12, 2026

It is a position the iPhone-maker hasn’t found itself in since Cook harnessed the company’s purchasing power to squeeze rock-bottom costs from suppliers and shift expensive assets from Apple’s balance sheet to theirs.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 30, 2026

Zug’s allure partly reflects its rock-bottom tax rates for businesses and individuals.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 12, 2026

Those byproducts would normally get sold at rock-bottom prices for animal feed, for instance, or possibly even discarded.

From BBC ● Jun. 4, 2026

The Berkeley scientists arrived to find Y-12 mired in mud, chaos, and rock-bottom morale.

From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik

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