Hit rock bottom means to reach the lowest possible point. About a person, it means going through the worst period, when things can't get any worse. About prices, sales or team morale, it means falling to the lowest level.
When would you say hit rock bottom?
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hit/reach rock bottom; prices/morale hit rock bottom; rock-bottom prices
- After losing his job and his flat in the same month, Tom felt he had hit rock bottom.
- Team morale hit rock bottom when the project was cancelled after two years of work.
- Hotel prices hit rock bottom in November, so we booked a cheap week in Lisbon.
What changed
First versionThat winter I felt I had hit the rock bottom.
RevisionThat winter I felt I had hit rock bottom.
In the idiom, rock bottom has no article: hit rock bottom. The extra the appears by analogy with the bottom, but the fixed expression doesn't have it. The correction only removes the article.
Hit rock bottom describes the very lowest point, after which things can only go up. If someone is just feeling sad, down in the dumps fits better: I've been a bit down in the dumps since the holidays ended. In essays about prices and the economy, the idiom is replaced with neutral reach its lowest point.
Your turn
Sales fell every month, and in March they ___ with the lowest figure in the company's history.
Show the answer
hit rock bottom — Sales fell every month and in March reached a record low: that's hit rock bottom. Hit the roof means “explode with anger”, which doesn't fit falling figures.
Describe a difficult period in your life or in the life of someone you know. Say what the lowest point was and what helped to get out of it.
When I failed my driving test for the third time, I hit rock bottom, but extra lessons with my brother helped me pass.
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