bottom
noun · verb · adjective
Simple meaning
The lowest part of anything.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
bahtuhmSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈbɑtəm
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
The lowest part of anything
“They started at the bottom of the hill.”
The lowest or last position in a rank.
often figuratively
The lowest part of a container.
Spirits poured into a glass before adding soda water.
Low-lying alluvial land near a river
baseball
The second half of an inning; while the home team is at bat
verb
transitive
To pour spirits into (a glass to be topped up with soda water).
To fall to the lowest point.
transitive
To establish or found (something) on or upon.
Strike the ground, as with a ship's bottom
Provide with a bottom or a seat
transitive
To furnish (something) with a bottom.
adjective
The lowest or last place or position.
Situated at the bottom or lowest position
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- A2 · Elementary
- Frequency
- Very Common
- Typical Use
- Everyday English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: The lowest part of anything
Used this way, bottom is a common word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
“They started at the bottom of the hill.”
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Usage note
It most often appears in the pattern “bottom of …”, which is worth copying when you use it.
Natural pattern: bottom of …
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use bottom
- “They started at the bottom of the hill.”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Similar Words, What’s the Difference?
Close in meaning, but not always interchangeable.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Inflected forms
Grammatical variations of the same word.
Having a bottom of a specified character.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
A scavenger that feeds low on the food chain.
Of or relating to fish and marine life that feed on the bottom of a body of water.
A slow kind of alcoholic fermentation at a temperature low enough that the yeast cells can sink to the bottom of the fermenting liquid.
Brewer's yeast used in bottom fermentation of lager.
Fish that live on the sea bottom (particularly the commercially important gadoid fish like cod and haddock, or flatfish like flounder).
The last line in an audit.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.