Dictionary.com
Thesaurus.com
Synonyms

touch bottom

Idioms  

  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.

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.

You have to touch bottom before you can kind of start to come back up again.

From Salon • Jul. 4, 2022

“There you go,” he said, when I was able to touch bottom again.

From The New Yorker • Jan. 20, 2020

We swim into it wearing our headlamps and, in most places, the water is too deep to touch bottom.

From Washington Post • Nov. 3, 2016

Anglers and rafters can float navigable waters in a boat, but they can’t touch bottom — no hopping out to wade, no dropping anchor to heed nature’s call.

From New York Times • Aug. 22, 2012

He allowed his hand to touch bottom before spreading his fingers to pick up the next question.

From "The View From Saturday" by E.L. Konigsburg

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.