What does "bottom" mean?
The lowest part of anything.
Bottom
/ˈbɒ.təm/ adj, name, noun, verb, slang
adj, name, noun, verb, slang ·Very common ·Middle school level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: The lowest part of anything.
- Grammar: bottom is listed as adj, name, noun, verb, slang.
- Nearest alternatives: backside, butt, rear, underside.
- Useful contrasts: apical, cacuminal, finest.
- Usage evidence: Gum got stuck to the bottom of my shoe.
How to use "bottom"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "bottom" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
- Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.
Meaning check
- Does the word fit the sentence's grammar?
- Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
- Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
- Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?
Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "bottom" in a final draft.
If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.
Before you rely on this definition
Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "bottom" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "bottom" with a nearby alternative so the final choice matches both meaning and reader expectation.
Compare nearby meanings
- Use synonyms when you need a softer, stronger, simpler, or more specific word.
- Use antonyms to check the boundary of the meaning and avoid accidental contrast.
- Use the example sentence to confirm the word behaves naturally in context.
- Keep the original wording when a replacement adds complexity without improving precision.
Definition decision workflow
1. Identify the role
Check whether "bottom" is acting as adj, name, noun, verb, slang in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
2. Test the nearest option
Compare it with "backside" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.
3. Confirm with context
Use the example sentence below as an evidence check, then read your own sentence out loud to catch tone or rhythm problems.
Review note: Definition pages are checked for source coverage, sentence evidence, synonym support, and editorial insight before they are treated as approval-ready pages. If the evidence is too thin, the page remains available to users but is kept out of the approval-facing indexed inventory.
Final meaning check
Before publishing a sentence with "bottom", ask whether the word helps the reader understand the idea faster. A precise word should reduce confusion, not simply make the sentence look more polished.
When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.
Definitions
Noun
- 1 The lowest part of anything. countable, uncountable
"barrels with the bottoms knocked out"
- 2 a cargo ship wordnet
- 3 The lowest part of anything.; The lowest or last position in a rank. countable, uncountable
"The Red Sox are at the bottom again."
- 4 the fleshy part of the human body that you sit on wordnet
- 5 The lowest part of anything.; A garment worn to cover the body below the torso. countable, often, plural, uncountable
"There’s a hole in her pyjama bottoms."
Show 27 more definitions
- 6 the lower side of anything wordnet
- 7 The lowest part of anything.; The lowest part of a container. countable, figuratively, often, uncountable
"In Ireland, where 14.5% of the population are jobless, emigration has climbed steadily since 2008, when Lehman Brothers collapsed and the bottom fell out of the Irish housing market. In the 12 months to April this year, 40,200 Irish passport-holders left, up from 27,700 the previous year, according to the central statistics office. Irish nationals were by far the largest constituent group among emigrants, at almost 53%."
- 8 the lowest part of anything wordnet
- 9 The lowest part of anything.; Spirits poured into a glass before adding soda water. countable, uncountable
- 10 a depression forming the ground under a body of water wordnet
- 11 The lowest part of anything.; The second half of an inning, the home team's turn at bat. countable, uncountable
"bottom of the ninth, bases loaded, two outs"
- 12 low-lying alluvial land near a river wordnet
- 13 The lowest part of anything.; The bass or baritone instruments of a band. countable, uncountable
"a soda and a bottom of brandy"
- 14 the second half of an inning; while the home team is at bat wordnet
- 15 The lowest part of anything.; The working portion of a moldboard-style plow. countable, uncountable
"single-bottom plow"
- 16 The remotest or innermost part of something. countable, uncountable
"Near-synonym: fundus (anatomical)"
- 17 The fundamental part; a basic aspect. countable, uncountable
"get to the bottom of it"
- 18 Low-lying land; a valley or hollow. US, countable, uncountable
"Where shall we go for a walk? How about Ashcombe Bottom?"
- 19 Low-lying land near a river with alluvial soil. countable, plural-normally, uncountable
- 20 The buttocks or anus. countable, euphemistic, uncountable
"Calvin, if you shoot that paper clip at me, I'll get your bottom hauled to the principal's office so fast you'll think you were in a time warp!!"
- 21 The bed of a body of water. countable, uncountable
- 22 An abyss. countable, uncountable
"In the Carpathian Bottom makes abode / The Shepherd of the Seas, a Prophet and a God"
- 23 A cargo vessel, a ship. countable, uncountable
"We sail in leaky bottoms and on great and perilous waters; [...]"
- 24 Certain parts of a vessel, particularly the cargo hold or the portion of the ship that is always underwater. countable, uncountable
"My ventures are not in one bottom trusted."
- 25 A person who has a receptive role or has a preference for that role during intercourse. countable, slang
"James and Lukas would make a great couple if they weren't both bottoms."
- 26 A person who has a receptive role or has a preference for that role during intercourse.; A sexual submissive. broadly, colloquial, countable, slang
"Since what I wanted to do was be a bottom, a masochist, I had to learn that you could do it and be safe, that you could do it and not sign your life away, that you could do it by agreement, and that it was still fun."
- 27 Character, reliability, staying power, dignity, integrity or sound judgment. British, slang, uncountable
"lack bottom"
- 28 Power of endurance. dated, uncountable
"This was why Dee had always ridden a buckskin; a man following his kind of trails needed a horse with bottom, and a line-back like this one never wore out."
- 29 A ball or skein of thread; a cocoon. countable, uncountable
"the [silk]worms will fasten themselves, and make their bottoms, which in about fourteen days are finished."
- 30 A trundle or spindle of thread. countable, rare, uncountable
"Edward Hoby of Bisham in Berkshire, Esq; Or, a Fess, Sable, between three Hobby-Hawks, proper; otherwise, Azure, three Bottoms in Fess, Gules."
- 31 Dregs or grounds; lees; sediment. countable, obsolete, uncountable
- 32 Ellipsis of bottom quark. abbreviation, alt-of, countable, ellipsis, particle, uncountable
Verb
- 1 To furnish (something) with a bottom. transitive
"to bottom a chair"
- 2 come to understand wordnet
- 3 To pour spirits into (a glass to be topped up with soda water). transitive
"We shall bid that thoughtful waiter place beside him, near and handy, / Large supplies of soda water, tumblers bottomed well with brandy, […]"
- 4 strike the ground, as with a ship's bottom wordnet
- 5 To wind (like a ball of thread etc.). obsolete
"As you vnwinde her loue from him, / Lest it should rauel and be good to none, / You must prouide to bottome it on me."
Show 9 more definitions
- 6 provide with a bottom or a seat wordnet
- 7 To establish or found (something) on or upon. transitive
"But an absurd opinion concerning the king’s hereditary right to the crown does not prejudice one that is rational, and bottomed upon solid principles of law and policy."
- 8 To lie on the bottom of; to underlie, to lie beneath. transitive
"My first night in America was spent in a motel with plywood over its windows, its pool bottomed with garbage sacks."
- 9 To be based or grounded. intransitive, obsolete
"c. 1703, John Locke, Some Thoughts Concerning Reading and Study for a Gentleman Find out upon what foundation any proposition advanced bottoms'."
- 10 To reach or strike against the bottom of something, so as to impede free action. intransitive
"allowance at the bottom of blind bores for the chamfered tip of the reamer will obviate additional operations with shouldering or bottoming reamers to completely finish the entire length of a hole."
- 11 To reach the bottom of something. transitive
"Squeaker's dog sniffed and barked joyfully around them till his licking efforts to bottom a salmon tin sent him careering in a muzzled frenzy, that caused the younger woman's thick lips to part grinningly till he came too close."
- 12 To fall to the lowest point.
"The Dow Jones Industrial Average bottomed on September 24, 2001. The CRB Index bottomed on October 24."
- 13 To be the submissive partner in a BDSM relationship. dated, intransitive
- 14 To take on the receptive role during intercourse. intransitive
"I've never bottomed in my life."
Adjective
- 1 The lowest or last place or position. not-comparable
"Those files should go on the bottom shelf."
- 2 Relating to the genitals. not-comparable
"bottom dysphoria"
Adjective
- 1 the lowest rank wordnet
- 2 situated at the bottom or lowest position wordnet
Proper Noun
- 1 A surname.
Example
"Gum got stuck to the bottom of my shoe."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "bottom"?
Common synonyms include: backside, butt, rear, underside, answer, anus.
How do you use "bottom" in a sentence?
Gum got stuck to the bottom of my shoe.
How do you pronounce "bottom"?
Pronounced /ˈbɒ.təm/.
Etymology
Etymology 1
PIE word *bʰudʰmḗn From Middle English botme, botom, from Old English botm, bodan (“bottom, foundation; ground, abyss”), from Proto-West Germanic *butm, from Proto-Germanic *butmaz, *budmaz (“bottom; ground”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰudʰmḗn (“bottom”). Cognates Cognate with Yola bothom, bottom (“bottom”), Saterland Frisian Boudem (“floor; ground”), West Frisian boaiem (“floor; ground”), Dutch bodem, boom, boôm (“bottom; ground, soil”), German Boden (“floor; ground; soil”), Limburgish baom (“bottom; ground, soil”), Luxembourgish Buedem (“bottom; earth, soil”), Vilamovian bödum (“bottom; ground”), Danish bund (“bottom”), Elfdalian buottn (“bottom”), Faroese botnur (“bottom”), Icelandic and Norwegian Nynorsk botn (“bottom”), Norwegian Bokmål botn, bunn (“bottom”), Swedish botten (“bottom”); also Irish and Scottish Gaelic bonn (“base, bottom; sole (of foot)”), Latin fundus (“bottom”) (whence fund, via French), Ancient Greek πυθμήν (puthmḗn, “bottom of a cup or jar; the bottom of the sea; butt of a tree”), Albanian buzë (“rocky chasm”), Armenian անդունդ (andund), անդունդք (andundkʻ, “abyss, chasm”), Northern Kurdish bin (“bottom”), Persian بن (bon, “bottom”), Sanskrit बुध्न (budhna, “bottom”). The sense “posterior of a person” is first attested in 1794; the verb “to reach the bottom of” is first attested in 1808. bottom dollar (“the last dollar one has”) is from 1882.
Etymology 2
* As an English surname, from the noun bottom. Compare Botham. * As a French name, mistranslated from Lafond, in which Old French la fond (“the fountain”) is confused with modern le fond (“the bottom”).