BOTTOM LINE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does bottom line mean? 

• BOTTOM LINE (noun)
  The noun BOTTOM LINE has 2 senses:

1. the last line in an audit; the line that shows profit or loss

2. the decisive point

  Familiarity information: BOTTOM LINE used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• BOTTOM LINE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The last line in an audit; the line that shows profit or loss

Classified under:

Nouns denoting possession and transfer of possession

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

line (text consisting of a row of words written across a page or computer screen)

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

audit; audited account (an inspection of the accounting procedures and records by a trained accountant or CPA)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The decisive point

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

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

point (a brief version of the essential meaning of something)

 Context examples 

"The bottom line is that we don't know the answer," Jacobs acknowledged.

(Vitamin C Might Shorten Tuberculosis Treatment Time, Study Indicates, VOA/Steve Baragona)

The bottom line: More research is needed.

(Exercise before Breakfast Burns More Fat, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

Bottom line is we really think our merging star hypothesis should be taken seriously right now, and we should be using the next few years to study this intensely so that if it does blow up we will know what led to that explosion, Molnar said.

(Star Explosion Could Change Night Sky, VOA News)