bottom line

plural bottom lines

1. countableuncountablebusinessThe final balance; the amount of money or profit left after everything has been tallied.

   For quotations using this term, see Citations:bottom line.

2. countableidiomaticuncountableThe summary or result; the most important information.

   The bottom line is that there simply are not enough hours in the day to finish all there is to do.

   4 more examples

   I need your lovin' and that's the bottom line / I need your lovin' or just a little time

   1980, Teena Marie, “I Need Your Lovin’”, in Irons in the Fire

   When Gorbachev totals up the balance sheet of Soviet strengths and weaknesses, the bottom line is not encouraging. Moscow has put itself into a unique historical position: It does not have a single ally among the major powers of the world.

   1988, Richard Nixon, “The Superpowers”, in 1999: Victory Without War, Simon and Schuster, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 38

   The bottom line is this - England have little or no chance of beating quality international sides if they defend as shoddily and carelessly as this, if they give possession away as cheaply as this and are as easy to get at as Kosovo made it look.

   2019 September 10, Phil McNulty, “'England horribly fallible in defence' against Kosovo in Euro 2020 qualifying”, in BBC Sport, archived from the original on 13 Feb 2021

   But the bottom line is that passengers want to see staff at a station and be able to find them easily.

   2023 July 26, Stefanie Foster, “Rebuild trust or it's game over”, in RAIL, number 988, page 3

   Synonyms: upshot, net-net

3. countableidiomaticuncountableA minimum acceptable result from a negotiation.

   My bottom line for this job is $125,000; any less and I'll walk away.

   Synonyms: BATNA, reservation price

1. not comparablesentence adverbSynonym of all in all.

   Bottom line, there's no way we're coming to the family reunion, as we can't afford hotel stays and airfares right now.

   Synonyms: all in all