touch bottom

1. Reach the lowest point, as in During the recession the economists kept saying that we hadn't touched bottom yet. This metaphor for reaching the ground under a body of water has been used since the mid-1800s.

Related Words

• capsize 
• decline 
• descend 
• dig 
• dip 
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• drill 
• drive 
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• drown 
• fall 
• go down 
• lower 
• overturn 
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• plunge 
• ram 
• sag 
• settle 
• slump