Word.ws English Dictionary

bottom-up

bottom-up adjective: of or relating to a hierarchical system that progresses from multiple small subunits to a single, large basic unit.

Adjective

bottom-up (not comparable)

  1. Of or relating to a hierarchical system that progresses from multiple small subunits to a single, large basic unit.
    • The software is checked very carefully in a bottom-up fashion. First, each new line of code is checked, then sections of code or modules with special functions are verified.1986 June 6, Richard Feynman, “Personal observations on the reliability of the Shuttle”, in Presidential Commission on the Space Shuttle Challenger Accident, Report to the President
  2. Of or relating to a hierarchical system in which lower levels influence higher levels.
    • bottom-up management
    • The papacy has for centuries brought with it a place on the world stage. Francis, who from the off gave the impression of being a man in a hurry, was determined to use that platform to push a bottom-up agenda for the world.2025 April 21, Peter Stanford, “Pope Francis obituary”, in The Guardian

Antonyms of bottom-up

Questions about bottom-up

What does bottom-up mean?
Bottom-up means of or relating to a hierarchical system that progresses from multiple small subunits to a single, large basic unit.
What part of speech is bottom-up?
Bottom-up is an adjective.

Words near bottom-up in the dictionary

  1. bottom-posters
  2. bottom-posting
  3. bottom-posts
  4. bottom-shelf
  5. bottom-tier
  6. bottom-up
  7. bottom-upwards
  8. bottomage
  9. bottomaged
  10. bottome
  11. bottomed

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: bottom-up (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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