Meaning & use
hit rock bottom
Last updated
Meanings
phraseidiom
To reach the lowest, worst point of a bad situation, after which things can only get better.
Grammar: Used as a complete verb phrase; the subject is the person or thing that has reached the lowest point.
Patterns
- someone hits rock bottom
- something hits rock bottom
- hit rock bottom after something
After losing his job and his apartment in the same month, he finally hit rock bottom.
Sales hit rock bottom in January and slowly climbed back up during the spring.
She says she hit rock bottom the night she ran out of money in a foreign city.
phraseidiomfigurative
To be at the lowest possible level, especially of prices, mood, or performance.
Grammar: Often used about numbers or feelings rather than people; the subject is the thing that is at its lowest.
Patterns
- prices hit rock bottom
- confidence hit rock bottom
- morale hit rock bottom
House prices hit rock bottom last year, so buyers finally started looking again.
His confidence hit rock bottom after the third rejection letter.
Team morale had hit rock bottom by the end of the losing season.
Common combinations
- hit rock bottom emotionally
- After the divorce he hit rock bottom emotionally and asked for help.
- finally hit rock bottom
- The company finally hit rock bottom when it closed its last store.
- hit rock bottom and bounce back
- Many small businesses hit rock bottom and bounce back stronger.
- hit rock bottom financially
- The family hit rock bottom financially and had to sell the house.
- a rock-bottom price
- The airline offered rock-bottom prices to fill the winter flights.
Synonyms and how they differ
- reach a low point
- Neutral and slightly more formal; it describes the same idea without the strong image of hitting the ground.
- bottom out
- Used mainly about prices, sales, or trends that stop falling; it does not usually describe a person's feelings.
- be at your worst
- Focuses on a person's condition rather than on a situation or a number, and sounds less final than hitting rock bottom.
Opposites
Word family
- rock-bottom adjective
- Used before a noun to mean the lowest possible, as in rock-bottom prices.
- bottom noun
- The lowest part or point of something; the base word inside this idiom.
Commonly confused: hit rock bottom or hit the bottom? hit rock bottom or rock bottom?
hit rock bottom vs hit the bottom
This sounds like a physical action, such as a diver touching the floor of a pool. The idiom is hit rock bottom, with no 'the'.
hit rock bottom vs rock bottom
Without hit, this is a noun phrase or an adjective meaning the lowest point itself, not the act of reaching it.
Practice
Which sentence uses the idiom correctly?
Choose one answer.
The idiom is a fixed phrase with no article and no -ly ending, and the team is the subject that reaches the low point. Option 2 adds 'the', which breaks the fixed form; option 4 uses a passive structure that the idiom does not take.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “hit rock bottom”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.