as in opportunist
one who does things only for his own benefit and with little regard for right and wrong
that bottom-feeder would run over his own mother if it would help him get ahead in his career
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Recent Examples of bottom-feeder
Here’s one out-of-the-box name who fits the high-motor description: Tony Vitello, who transformed the University of Tennessee from a bottom-feeder in the Southeastern Conference into perhaps the brashest and most talented program in the country.
—
Andrew Baggarly, New York Times, 29 Sep. 2025
Here are some methods for scraping good music from the data wasteland, organized in a hierarchy from bottom-feeder basics to more sophisticated and ultimately, uhh, harebrained strategies.
—Kieran Press-Reynolds, Pitchfork, 31 July 2025
With the July 31 trade deadline only two weeks beyond the Atlanta All-Star Game, contenders and would-be contenders are eying the rosters of bottom-feeders to fill the few holes on their rosters.
—Dan Schlossberg, Forbes.com, 7 July 2025
And a lot of them are like the rig shark — smaller bottom-feeders, eaten by larger sharks and humans alike.
—Julie Depenbrock, NPR, 3 Apr. 2025
And with New York dropping the first two games of what was supposed to be a gimme stretch against bottom-feeders, the Knicks’ margin for error is all but gone.
—Kristian Winfield, New York Daily News, 22 Mar. 2025
The Dawgs have lost seven of nine, and their only two wins in that span are at home against the two SEC bottom-feeders, South Carolina and LSU.
—Jim Root, The Athletic, 13 Feb. 2025
Andrew Baggarly, New York Times, 29 Sep. 2025
Here are some methods for scraping good music from the data wasteland, organized in a hierarchy from bottom-feeder basics to more sophisticated and ultimately, uhh, harebrained strategies.
—Kieran Press-Reynolds, Pitchfork, 31 July 2025
With the July 31 trade deadline only two weeks beyond the Atlanta All-Star Game, contenders and would-be contenders are eying the rosters of bottom-feeders to fill the few holes on their rosters.
—Dan Schlossberg, Forbes.com, 7 July 2025
And a lot of them are like the rig shark — smaller bottom-feeders, eaten by larger sharks and humans alike.
—Julie Depenbrock, NPR, 3 Apr. 2025
And with New York dropping the first two games of what was supposed to be a gimme stretch against bottom-feeders, the Knicks’ margin for error is all but gone.
—Kristian Winfield, New York Daily News, 22 Mar. 2025
The Dawgs have lost seven of nine, and their only two wins in that span are at home against the two SEC bottom-feeders, South Carolina and LSU.
—Jim Root, The Athletic, 13 Feb. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for bottom-feeder
Noun
-
The Jags are equal opportunists in their one-score adventures.—
Steven Louis Goldstein,
New York Times,
10 Oct. 2025
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Such disingenuous opportunists should be shunned and condemned.—
Hussein Ibish,
The Atlantic,
7 Oct. 2025
Noun
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Drone footage also proves just how often sharks are near humans — without incident.—
Jesse Whittock,
Deadline,
9 Oct. 2025
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The man — who has not been publicly identified — sustained two shark bites that are believed to be from a large bronze whaler shark, said Shark Watch South Australia, an online community dedicated to sharing shark incidents, citing a public report.—
Latoya Gayle,
PEOPLE,
7 Oct. 2025
Noun
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Thus the self-seekers and the doctrinaires were drawn together into an alliance to maintain the status quo, and all its abuses and inequalities were made sacrosanct.—
Foreign Affairs,
Foreign Affairs,
18 Dec. 2011
Cite this Entry
“Bottom-feeder.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/bottom-feeder. Accessed 16 Oct. 2025.
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