idiom · informal

hit rock bottom

UK/hɪt rɒk ˈbɒtəm/US/hɪt rɑːk ˈbɑːtəm/HIT ROCK BOT·tom

speakingtask2

to reach the lowest or worst point emotionally or situationally

Examples

“After losing his house and job, he felt he had hit rock bottom.”

“The market hit rock bottom before slowly recovering.”

“Many patients say they reached rock bottom before they sought help.”

Band 8 sentence

“When unemployment surged, some industries hit rock bottom before policy interventions helped them recover.”

Collocations

  • hit rock bottom emotionally
  • hit rock bottom financially

Word family

hit rock bottom idiomhit bottom idiom

Common mistakes

hit the rock bottom→hit rock bottom

Say it for a higher band

5be at the lowest point→6bottom out→7+hit rock bottom

Synonyms

bottom out

Easily confused

bottom out

“After months of decline the market finally bottomed out.”

Related words

between a rock and a hard placescrape bymake ends meetstrapped for cashat one's wit's endbe up against itweather the stormhit a snag

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