bottom

1 of 3

noun

bot·​tom ˈbä-təm 

1

a

: the underside of something

at the bottom of the box

a cut on the bottom of her foot

The vase is signed on the bottom.

b

: a surface (such as the seat of a chair) designed to support something resting on it

—used figuratively in phrases like the bottom dropped out to describe a sudden collapse or downturn

lost millions when the bottom dropped out of the stock market

c

: buttocks, rump

a baby with a rash on his bottom

2

: the surface on which a body of water lies

sank to the bottom of the ocean

3

nautical

a

: the part of a ship's hull lying below the water

b

: boat, ship

cargo … carried by foreign bottoms

—Virginia A. Oakes

4

a

: the lowest part or place

the bottom of the page

stood at the bottom of the stairs

b

: the remotest or inmost point

sail to the bottom of the bay

c

: the lowest or last place in rank or position

The CEO started at the bottom and worked her way up.

graduated at the bottom of the class

the bottom of the pay scale

d

clothing : the part of a garment worn on the lower part of the body

white tops and navy blue bottoms

a bikini bottom

especially : the pants of pajamas

—usually used in plural

e

baseball : the last half of an inning

the bottom of the ninth

f

music : the bass or baritone instruments of a band

5

geography : bottomland

—usually used in plural

the Mississippi river bottoms

6

: basis, source

trying to get to the bottom of these rumors

7

: capacity (as of a horse) to endure strain

a breed of dogs outstanding for bottom

8

textiles : a foundation color applied to fibers before dyeing

9

physics : a fundamental quark that accounts for the existence and lifetime of upsilon particles and has an electric charge of −¹/₃ and a measured energy of approximately 5 GeV

also : the flavor (see flavor entry 1 sense 4b) characterizing this particle

bottomed

ˈbä-təmd 

adjective

bottom

2 of 3

verb

bottomed; bottoming; bottoms

transitive verb

1

: to furnish (something, such as a chair) with a bottom

2

: to provide a foundation for

men who wanted to bottom the dreams of the Romantics

—Bonamy Dobrée

3

: to bring to the bottom

bottomed the submarine on the ocean floor

4

: to find the basis or source of (something, such as a rumor) : to get to the bottom (see bottom entry 1 sense 6) of

The mystery hasn't been bottomed.

intransitive verb

1

: to become based or grounded

find on what foundation any proposition bottoms

—John Locke

2

: to reach the bottom

bottoming on the sea floor

3

: to reach a point where a decline is halted or reversed

—usually used with out

The team bottomed out in last place.

bottomer noun

bottom

3 of 3

adjective

1

: of, relating to, or situated at the bottom (see bottom entry 1)

bottom rock

2

: frequenting the lowest part or place : frequenting the bottom

bottom fish

Phrases

at bottom

: really, basically

It is, at bottom, a love song.

Synonyms

Noun

• underbelly
• underbody
• underpart
• underside
• undersurface

Adjective

• bottommost
• low
• lowermost
• nethermost
• rock-bottom
• undermost

Examples of bottom in a Sentence

Noun

We sailed to the bottom of the bay.

the bottom of the garden

The poor baby has a rash all over his little bottom.

The company's new CEO started at the bottom and worked her way up.

Why do I always find myself rooting for the team at the bottom of the league?

at the bottom of the pay scale

Adjective

the bottom rung of the ladder

Somebody's fingerprints are all along the bottom edge of the photograph.

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Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz Jr. of Spain looks at the bottom of his car after running over a manhole cover during the first practice session of the Formula One Las Vegas Grand Prix race, Nov. 16, 2023, in Las Vegas, Nevada. —CBS News, 17 Nov. 2023

Anyone who prefers layering their jeans outside their boots rather than tucking them will appreciate the wide flared bottom, which runs extra long to create the illusion of longer legs. —Sophie Dodd, Travel + Leisure, 16 Nov. 2023

Cut the bottom off an empty two-liter bottle to make your own. —Nicole Harris, Parents, 16 Nov. 2023

But its romantic shape — a graceful or bulbous gooseneck ending in a pert stem, like an upturned nose, a plump and curvaceous bottom, heavy and steady and often blushed — is bested only by its complex taste. —G. Daniela Galarza, Washington Post, 16 Nov. 2023

Bake until golden brown at the edges and set on the bottom, 5 to 10 minutes. —Genevieve Ko, San Diego Union-Tribune, 15 Nov. 2023

Bake: Bake in preheated oven until puff pastries are deep golden brown, 20 to 25 minutes, rotating baking sheets between top and bottom racks halfway through bake time. —Jasmine Smith, Southern Living, 15 Nov. 2023

This one has a thicker and higher design than typical rests, and the nonslip bottom keeps it in firmly place. Find it on Amazon A Clothing Stamp for the Kids All parents know the struggle of sending their kids off with jackets and other clothing and never seeing those articles again. —Hannah Rice, Rolling Stone, 14 Nov. 2023

Don't worry about any of it sticking to the side or the bottom of your bowl. —Paige Grandjean, Southern Living, 3 Nov. 2023

Verb

Back in February, Zillow’s housing economists made a bold call that U.S. home prices had bottomed and would proceed to climb 0.5% over the next 12 months. —Lance Lambert, Fortune, 27 Aug. 2023

But many analysts expect the slumping growth rates to bottom by midyear, and even start improving in the back half. —Dan Gallagher, WSJ, 11 Apr. 2023

Getty Images Just as national home prices were bottoming in early 2012 following the crash that started in 2007, institutional buyer Invitation Homes (owned by Blackstone at the time) was entering the U.S. housing market and looking for deals at rock-bottom prices. —Lance Lambert, Fortune, 27 July 2023

Does that mean that home prices have essentially bottomed? —Lance Lambert, Fortune, 5 Aug. 2023

Several firms think national house prices have bottomed, including the AEI Housing Center, CoreLogic, and Zillow. —Lance Lambert, Fortune, 5 Aug. 2023

By the time national prices bottom in 2024, Morningstar expects house prices to be down between 4% to 6% from the peak. —Lance Lambert, Fortune, 15 July 2023

Following the global financial crisis of 2008, views about the economy did not truly improve until about 2012 — even though economic growth technically bottomed in the spring of 2009. —Rob Wile, NBC News, 14 July 2023

Historically, the market bottoms roughly four months before unemployment hits its highest level in a recession, according to Bank of America analysts. —Eric Wallerstein, WSJ, 1 June 2023

Adjective

Here, mementos crafted from the bottom inch of Christmas trees from years past dangle between the boughs. —Kaylei Fear, Better Homes & Gardens, 16 Nov. 2023

But as the 30-year-old freely concedes, those early days at the bottom rung proved instrumental to his present-day success. —Eric Twardzik, Robb Report, 15 Nov. 2023

Arrange bottom roll halves in prepared baking dish; spread evenly with honey-mustard. —Liv Dansky, Southern Living, 10 Nov. 2023

Her secret for the lemon meringue pie was to mix some of the lemon filling in with the meringue, so the meringue was more creamy and satiny and less stiff and less likely to separate and slide off from the filling of the bottom half. —Daniela Galarza, Washington Post, 9 Nov. 2023

Along the top and bottom lash lines and over the lids, Farolfi applied an ivory metallic shadow (try the sparkly options in the Byredo Self Illusion Eyeshadow Palette) and then freestyled a crescent-moon shape in a silver pigment. —Annie Blay, Allure, 9 Nov. 2023

There’s also a four-story tower guesthouse, which has a spiral staircase that travels from a bottom living area up to a kitchen, bath and top-floor bedroom offering ocean views. —Wendy Bowman, Robb Report, 4 Nov. 2023

This left Alyson and Sasha, Mauricio and Emma and Harry and Rylee as the remaining three couples, though not necessarily the bottom three. —Joelle Goldstein, Peoplemag, 1 Nov. 2023

For companies in the Russell 2000 Index, the difference between the top 20% and the bottom tier was even greater, signaling that smaller companies with weaker balance sheets get punished even more than their larger counterparts. —Alexandra Semenova, Fortune, 1 Nov. 2023

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Word History

Etymology

Noun

Middle English botme, botom, bothom, going back to Old English botm, *boðm, going back to Germanic *butma- (whence, with varying dental consonants, Old Saxon bođom "ground, bottom," Old High German bodam, Old Norse botn), going back to Indo-European *b^hud^h-mḗn, *b^hud^h-mn-ós, whence also Greek pythmḗn "bottom, ground, base," Sanskrit budhná- and (with metathesis of stop and nasal) Latin fundus "bottom, base," Middle Irish bonn "sole of the foot"

Verb

derivative of bottom entry 1

Adjective

from attributive use of bottom entry 1

First Known Use

Noun

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Verb

1544, in the meaning defined at transitive sense 1

Adjective

1561, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing bottom

• at the bottom of one's/the class
• be/lie at the bottom of
• at the bottom of the pile
• bottom line
• bottom-fishing
• bottom drawer
• bottom-feeder
• bottom gear
• bottom surgery
• bottom out
• bottom round
• the bottom of the barrel
• from the bottom of one's heart
• bottom-up
• false bottom
• rock bottom
• hit bottom
• hit/reach rock bottom
• get to the bottom of
• the bottom drops/falls out
• scrape bottom
• at the bottom/top of the heap
• from top to bottom
• at bottom

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• at the bottom of one's/the class
• be/lie at the bottom of
• at the bottom of the pile
• bottom line
• bottom-fishing
• bottom drawer
• bottom-feeder
• bottom gear
• bottom surgery
• bottom out
• bottom round
• the bottom of the barrel
• from the bottom of one's heart
• bottom-up
• false bottom
• rock bottom
• hit bottom
• hit/reach rock bottom
• get to the bottom of
• the bottom drops/falls out
• scrape bottom
• at the bottom/top of the heap
• from top to bottom
• at bottom

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Kids Definition

bottom

1 of 2 noun

bot·​tom ˈbät-əm 

1

a

: the undersurface of something

b

: a supporting surface or part : base

c

: buttock sense 2a, rump

2

: the surface on which a body of water lies

3

a

: the part of a ship's hull lying below the water

b

: boat entry 1 sense 1, ship

4

: the lowest part, place, or point

the bottom of the page

5

: the part of a garment worn on the lower part of the body

especially : the trousers of pajamas

—usually used in plural

6

: lowland along a river

the Mississippi River bottoms

7

: the most basic or central part : heart

get to the bottom of the problem

8

: the last half of an inning of baseball

bottomed

-əmd 

adjective

bottom

2 of 2 verb

1

: to provide a foundation for

2

: to rest on, bring to, or reach the bottom