BOTTOM

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does bottom mean? 

• BOTTOM (noun)
  The noun BOTTOM has 7 senses:

1. the lower side of anything

2. the lowest part of anything

3. the fleshy part of the human body that you sit on

4. the second half of an inning; while the home team is at bat

5. a depression forming the ground under a body of water

6. low-lying alluvial land near a river

7. a cargo ship

  Familiarity information: BOTTOM used as a noun is common.

• BOTTOM (adjective)
  The adjective BOTTOM has 2 senses:

1. situated at the bottom or lowest position

2. the lowest rank

  Familiarity information: BOTTOM used as an adjective is rare.

• BOTTOM (verb)
  The verb BOTTOM has 3 senses:

1. provide with a bottom or a seat

2. strike the ground, as with a ship's bottom

3. come to understand

  Familiarity information: BOTTOM used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• BOTTOM (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The lower side of anything

Classified under:

Nouns denoting spatial position

Synonyms:

bottom; underside; undersurface

Hypernyms ("bottom" is a kind of...):

face; side (a surface forming part of the outside of an object)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "bottom"):

base (a flat bottom on which something is intended to sit)

bilge (where the sides of the vessel curve in to form the bottom)

heel (the bottom of a shoe or boot; the back part of a shoe or boot that touches the ground and provides elevation)

sole (the underside of footwear or a golf club)

underbelly (lower side)

Derivation:

bottom (strike the ground, as with a ship's bottom)

bottom (provide with a bottom or a seat)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The lowest part of anything

Classified under:

Nouns denoting spatial position

Context example:

they started at the bottom of the hill

Hypernyms ("bottom" is a kind of...):

part; region (the extended spatial location of something)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "bottom"):

foot (the lower part of anything)

base ((anatomy) the part of an organ nearest its point of attachment)

rock bottom (the absolute bottom)

Derivation:

bottom (strike the ground, as with a ship's bottom)

bottom (provide with a bottom or a seat)

Sense 3

Meaning:

The fleshy part of the human body that you sit on

Classified under:

Nouns denoting body parts

Synonyms:

arse; ass; backside; behind; bottom; bum; buns; butt; buttocks; can; derriere; fanny; fundament; hind end; hindquarters; keister; nates; posterior; prat; rear; rear end; rump; seat; stern; tail; tail end; tooshie; tush

Context example:

are you going to sit on your fanny and do nothing?

Hypernyms ("bottom" is a kind of...):

body part (any part of an organism such as an organ or extremity)

Holonyms ("bottom" is a part of...):

body; torso; trunk (the body excluding the head and neck and limbs)

Sense 4

Meaning:

The second half of an inning; while the home team is at bat

Classified under:

Nouns denoting time and temporal relations

Synonyms:

bottom; bottom of the inning

Hypernyms ("bottom" is a kind of...):

bout; round; turn ((sports) a division during which one team is on the offensive)

Holonyms ("bottom" is a part of...):

frame; inning ((baseball) one of nine divisions of play during which each team has a turn at bat)

Antonym:

top (the first half of an inning; while the visiting team is at bat)

Sense 5

Meaning:

A depression forming the ground under a body of water

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural objects (not man-made)

Synonyms:

bed; bottom

Context example:

he searched for treasure on the ocean bed

Hypernyms ("bottom" is a kind of...):

depression; natural depression (a sunken or depressed geological formation)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "bottom"):

lake bed; lake bottom (the bottom of a lake)

Davy Jones; Davy Jones's locker; ocean bottom; ocean floor; sea bottom; sea floor; seabed (the bottom of a sea or ocean)

river bottom; riverbed (a channel occupied (or formerly occupied) by a river)

creek bed; streambed (a channel occupied (or formerly occupied) by a stream)

Sense 6

Meaning:

Low-lying alluvial land near a river

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural objects (not man-made)

Synonyms:

bottom; bottomland

Hypernyms ("bottom" is a kind of...):

ground; land; soil (material in the top layer of the surface of the earth in which plants can grow (especially with reference to its quality or use))

Sense 7

Meaning:

A cargo ship

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

bottom; freighter; merchant ship; merchantman

Context example:

they did much of their overseas trade in foreign bottoms

Hypernyms ("bottom" is a kind of...):

cargo ship; cargo vessel (a ship designed to carry cargo)

• BOTTOM (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Situated at the bottom or lowest position

Context example:

the bottom drawer

Similar:

bottommost; lowermost; nethermost (farthest down)

inferior (lower than a given reference point)

nether (lower)

Antonym:

side (located on a side)

top (situated at the top or highest position)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The lowest rank

Context example:

bottom member of the class

Similar:

worst ((superlative of 'bad') most wanting in quality or value or condition)

• BOTTOM (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they bottom    ... he / she / it bottoms   
Past simple: bottomed   
Past participle: bottomed   
-ing form: bottoming   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Provide with a bottom or a seat

Classified under:

Verbs of buying, selling, owning

Context example:

bottom the chairs

Hypernyms (to "bottom" is one way to...):

furnish; provide; render; supply (give something useful or necessary to)

Domain category:

cabinetry; cabinetwork (the craft of making furniture (especially furniture of high quality))

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

bottom (the lower side of anything)

bottom (the lowest part of anything)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Strike the ground, as with a ship's bottom

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "bottom" is one way to...):

collide with; hit; impinge on; run into; strike (hit against; come into sudden contact with)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Derivation:

bottom (the lower side of anything)

bottom (the lowest part of anything)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Come to understand

Classified under:

Verbs of thinking, judging, analyzing, doubting

Synonyms:

bottom; fathom; penetrate

Hypernyms (to "bottom" is one way to...):

understand (know and comprehend the nature or meaning of)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Somebody ----s that CLAUSE

 Context examples 

And the water grew so deep that the long poles would not touch the bottom.

(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)

I tape my business card to the bottom my computer and iPad, and even to the back of my iPhone.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

Then down they all went, and at the bottom they found themselves in a most delightful grove of trees; and the leaves were all of silver, and glittered and sparkled beautifully.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

I let my shirt down to my waist, and drew up the bottom; fastening it like a girdle about my middle, to hide my nakedness.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

And somewhere at the bottom he fell into darkness.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

By the time it reaches the organisms at the bottom of the water column, the carbon 14 could already be hundreds or thousands of years old.

(A new study is the first to measure the time lags between changing ocean currents and major climate shifts., University of Cambridge)

Peters and his co-authors, UC Santa Barbara marine ecologists Dan Reed and Deron Burkepile, saw the local community of sea-bottom invertebrates as a likely additional nitrogen source.

(In search of an undersea kelp forest's missing nitrogen, National Science Foundation)

Researchers listened to more than a year's worth of Earth's rumblings, from ambient noise to actual earthquakes, using a network of 19 ocean-bottom seismographs deployed across the Mariana Trench, along with seven island-based seismographs.

(Seismic study reveals huge amount of water dragged into Earth’s interior, National Science Foundation)

The canyons also are quite deep — those measured are 790 to 1,870 feet (240 to 570 meters) from top to bottom.

(Cassini Finds Flooded Canyons on Titan, NASA)

Their findings describe how biological processes in the sediments at the lake bottom transform the methane into carbon dioxide.

(Methane-eating bacteria in lake deep beneath Antarctic ice sheet may reduce greenhouse gas emissions, National Science Foundation)