at bottom

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Prepositional phrase

1. (idiomatic) Really, basically, fundamentally.
   • 1907 July 5, Mark Twain, Chapters from My Autobiography, ch. 23:

     At bottom I supposed that he had mistaken another book for mine.

   • 1947 Jan. 6, "[http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,852995,00.html The 80th Congress]," Time (retrieved 26 June 2015):

     As the New Year opened, the survival of Western democracy rested, at bottom, on the case the U.S. would make for it.

   • 2015 June 20, Michael Lewis, "Harvard Admissions Needs ‘Moneyball for Life’ ↗," New York Times (retrieved 26 June 2015):

     At bottom, he does not accept any authority higher than himself.

Synonyms

• essentially, in the final analysis; see also Thesaurus:fundamentally

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