Bottom Line Definition & Meaning

American

British

Cultural

Idioms

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Other Word Forms

Etymology

Examples

Related Words

Synonyms bottom line American

noun

1. the last line of a financial statement, used for showing net profit or loss.

2. net profit or loss.

3. the deciding or crucial factor.

4. the ultimate result; outcome.

bottom line British

noun

1. the last line of a financial statement that shows the net profit or loss of a company or organization

2. the final outcome of a process, discussion, etc

3. the most important or fundamental aspect of a situation

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012 bottom line Cultural

1. The last line in an audit, which shows profit or loss.

bottom line Idioms

1. The ultimate result, the upshot; also, the main point or crucial factor. For example, The bottom line is that the chairman wants to dictate all of the board's decisions, or Whether or not he obeyed the law is the bottom line. This is an accounting term that refers to the earnings figures that appear on the bottom (last) line of a statement. It began to be transferred to other contexts in the mid-1900s.

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“Bottom line” also has a derogatory implication when it refers to those people whose attention to the bottom line prevents them from recognizing the value of anything else.

By extension, “bottom line” refers to the final, determining consideration in a decision.

Other Word Forms

• bottom-line adjective

Etymology

Origin of bottom line

First recorded in 1965–70

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Until recently, AI messaging from the business and tech elite in public has been largely focused on the benefits to economic growth, innovation and, naturally, bottom lines.

From The Wall Street Journal

"The bottom line is, even though it allowed me to visit the work of my foundation, traveling on Epstein's plane was not worth the years of questioning afterward," he wrote.

From BBC

The bottom line: Workers generally don’t need to worry about what will happen to their careers if the startup that employs them fails, Botelho says.

From The Wall Street Journal

Still, falling mortgage rates translate directly to the bottom line of home buying.

From The Wall Street Journal

The tech giant has struggled to protect its bottom line amid a slowdown in advertising spending and has piled into AI in a bid to boost its earnings.

From Barron's

Related Words

• cardinal
• critical
• crucial
• essential
• fundamental
• important
• indispensable

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.