bottom line
- noun
- /ˈbɑːtəm laɪn/
- Specialized
- Both types of groups are able to deliver a positive bottom line.
- the financial bottom line
- the company's bottom line
- look at the bottom line
And when the income goes down, then obviously the bottom line goes down.
- And when the income goes down, then obviously the bottom line goes down.
- They use our important content to feed their bottom line and they simply just don't care about us.
- All of these things are good for a company's bottom line.
- They should have excess like space, but that would hurt the bottom line.
- The top line is perceived value, the middle line is the price you charge, and the bottom line is the cost.
- We want to but you know, when the funding starts to dry up, when you you know, you have to pay the rent in a certain way and and, and your bottom line is, is profit.
- What's, what's the amount of cost to those banks that they're trying to move to the merchants and thus drop to the bank's bottom line?
- And they're doing it for the bottom line, not just to get moral cookies.
- The companies that Andrew Tay is spreading his speech on have a bottom line to hit.
Examples
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"The result can have a huge impact on a company's bottom line," he says.
Academic text (1998) -
Every year the company grows its bottom line by M dollars.
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And when the income goes down, then obviously the bottom line goes down.
-
How might she help other family members gain training that could improve their financial bottom line?
Academic text (2015) -
The social workers who remain must do more with less, with an eye on the bottom line.
Academic text (2008) -
Because these global issues increasingly impact business, not engaging with them can hurt the bottom line.
Academic text (2008) -
Issued on 8 April, the fiscal 1994 budget has a bottom line of $1.5 trillion.
Academic text (1994) -
Most restaurants also make an effort to conserve energy because "it's good for the bottom line."
Academic text (2009) -
For the companies making these investments, the Caspian energy boom has always been about the bottom line.
Academic text (2000) -
In the last quarter, our bottom line showed a significant improvement, indicating higher profits than expected.
Synonyms
Money a person or business keeps after paying costs and taxes
Money left after paying all costs, taxes, and other charges
Money left after paying all costs and taxes
How Profitable
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is partly compositional: 'bottom' (lowest) + 'line' evokes the total shown at the bottom of an account, so a learner who knows the words can often infer the financial sense. However, the metaphorical extension to 'the most important outcome' and the reliance on accounting/layout conventions are not fully predictable for a B1 learner without prior exposure, making it only partially transparent.
Etymology
Bottom line comes from accounting, where the final number on the bottom line of a sheet shows the company's total 'profit or loss'. Because that last number shows the real result, the phrase now also means that final financial outcome.