Bottom vs. Button — What's the Difference?
Edited by Tayyaba Rehman — By Fiza Rafique — Updated on October 24, 2023
Bottom refers to the lowest part or end of something, while button is a small fastener or a graphical control element on a screen.
Difference Between Bottom and Button
Table of Contents
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Key Differences
Bottom is a term that can be used to describe the lowest part of something, whether it's a physical object or a situation. It's the opposite of "top." In contrast, a button is typically a small disk or knob used to fasten something or to operate a device.
In clothing, the bottom could refer to the end of a shirt or the base of a dress. On these pieces of clothing, one might find buttons, which are used to secure the garment or add decorative elements.
While exploring a webpage, you might scroll to the bottom to find the footer or other information. On this same webpage, there might be buttons that lead you to different sections or help you perform specific actions like submitting a form.
When discussing levels or hierarchy, one might refer to the bottom rung of a ladder or the bottom tier of a system. Meanwhile, buttons are often associated with control, especially in contexts like machinery or electronics, where they initiate or halt a function.
In aquatic contexts, the bottom of a body of water refers to its deepest point or floor. In contrast, a button has no direct association with water, unless you're discussing waterproof buttons on devices designed for submerged use.
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Comparison Chart
Definition
The lowest part or end of something
A small fastener or control element
Function
Describes position or level
Used to fasten or activate something
Context of Use
Physical objects, situations, levels
Clothing, devices, graphical interfaces
Physical Presence
Can be touched or felt in tangible items
Exists physically and digitally
Associations
Depth, base, end, foundation
Control, activation, decoration, fastening
Compare with Definitions
Bottom
The underlying support or basis.
The bottom line is we need to increase sales.
Button
A small disk used as a fastener.
She lost a button from her shirt.
Bottom
The end opposite the top.
Check the bottom of the page for footnotes.
Button
A graphical control element on a screen.
Click the button to submit the form.
Bottom
The lowest position in a ranking or hierarchy.
He started from the bottom and worked his way up.
Button
A badge or emblem bearing a design.
He wore a button supporting his favorite candidate.
Bottom
The lowest point or part of something
The bottom of the page
She paused at the bottom of the stairs
Button
A bud or young shoot of a plant.
The roses are beginning to button.
Bottom
A person's buttocks
He climbs the side of the gorge, scratching his bottom unselfconsciously
Button
In modern clothing and fashion design, a button is a small fastener, now most commonly made of plastic but also may be made of metal, wood, or seashell, that joins two pieces of fabric together. In archaeology, a button can be a significant artifact.
Bottom
One of six flavours of quark.
Button
A small disc or knob sewn on to a garment, either to fasten it by being pushed through a slit made for the purpose or for decoration.
Bottom
Stamina or strength of character
Whatever his faults, he possesses that old-fashioned quality—bottom
Button
A small device on a piece of electrical or electronic equipment which is pressed to operate it.
Bottom
A man who takes the passive role in anal intercourse with another man.
Button
A badge bearing a design or slogan and pinned to clothing.
Bottom
In the lowest position
The books on the bottom shelf
Button
Fasten (clothing) with buttons
He buttoned up his jacket
Bottom
(of a ship) reach or touch the ground under the sea
Nuclear submarines cannot bottom
Button
Stop talking.
Bottom
(of a situation) reach the lowest point before stabilizing or improving
Encouraging signs suggested the recession was bottoming out
Button
A generally disk-shaped fastener used to join two parts of a garment by fitting through a buttonhole or loop.
Bottom
The deepest or lowest part
The bottom of a well.
The bottom of the page.
Button
Such an object used for decoration.
Bottom
The part closest to a reference point
Was positioned at the bottom of the key for a rebound.
Button
A push-button switch.
Bottom
The underside
Scraped the bottom of the car on a rock.
Button
The blunt tip of a fencing foil.
Bottom
The supporting part; the base.
Button
A fused metal or glass globule.
Bottom
The far end or part
At the bottom of the bed.
Button
In graphical user interface systems, a well-defined area within the interface that is clicked to select a command.
Bottom
The last place, as on a list.
Button
In a hypertext database, an icon that when selected allows a user to view a particular associated object.
Bottom
The lowest or least favorable position
Started at the bottom of the corporate hierarchy.
Button
An immature, unexpanded mushroom.
Bottom
The basic underlying quality; the source
Let's get to the bottom of the problem.
Button
The tip of a rattlesnake's rattle.
Bottom
The solid surface under a body of water.
Button
A usually round flat badge that bears a design or printed information and is typically pinned to a garment
A campaign button.
Bottom
Often bottoms Low-lying alluvial land adjacent to a river. Also called bottomland.
Button
(Informal) The end of the chin, regarded as the point of impact for a punch.
Bottom
(Nautical) The part of a ship's hull below the water line.
Button
In card games, especially poker, a plastic disk or similar marker placed in front of the person who is designated as dealer for a particular hand. At the start of each hand, the first card is dealt to the left of the button and the dealing of cards continues clockwise around the table.
Bottom
A ship; a boat
"English merchants did much of their overseas trade in foreign bottoms" (G.M. Trevelyan).
Button
The person who is in possession of this button.
Bottom
Often bottoms The trousers or short pants of pajamas.
Button
The position on the gaming table where this button is located.
Bottom
(Informal) The buttocks.
Button
To fasten with buttons
Buttoned his shirt.
Buttoned up her raincoat.
Bottom
The seat of a chair.
Button
To decorate or furnish with buttons.
Bottom
(Baseball) The second or last half of an inning.
Button
(Informal) To close (the lips or mouth)
Button your lip.
Bottom
Staying power; stamina. Used of a horse.
Button
To be or be capable of being fastened with buttons
The blouse buttons up the back.
Bottom
(Slang) One who is penetrated by another person or is the submissive partner in a sexual encounter or relationship.
Button
A knob or disc that is passed through a loop or (buttonhole), serving as a fastener.
April fastened the buttons of her overcoat to keep out the wind.
Bottom
Situated at the bottom
The bottom rung of the ladder.
Button
A mechanical device meant to be pressed with a finger in order to open or close an electric circuit or to activate a mechanism.
Pat pushed the button marked "shred" on the blender.
Bottom
Of the lowest degree, quality, rank, or amount
The bottom three teams in the league.
Button
(graphical user interface) An on-screen control that can be selected as an activator of an attached function.
Click the button that looks like a house to return to your browser's home page.
Bottom
To provide with an underside.
Button
(US) A badge worn on clothes, fixed with a pin through the fabric.
The politician wore a bright yellow button with the slogan "Vote Smart" emblazoned on it.
Bottom
To provide with a foundation; base
Jurisprudence that is bottomed on democratic principles.
Button
(botany) A bud.
Bottom
To have or strike the underside against something
The car bottomed on the gravel.
Button
The head of an unexpanded mushroom.
Bottom
The lowest part of anything.
Footers appear at the bottoms of pages.
Button
(slang) The clitoris.
Bottom
A garment worn to cover the body below the torso.
There's a hole in her pyjama bottoms.
Button
(curling) The center (bullseye) of the house.
Bottom
Spirits poured into a glass before adding soda water.
A soda and a bottom of brandy
Button
(fencing) The soft circular tip at the end of a foil.
Bottom
The far end of somewhere.
There’s a fairy at the bottom of my garden.
I walked to the bottom of the street.
Button
(poker) A plastic disk used to represent the person in last position in a poker game; also dealer's button.
Bottom
Character, reliability, staying power, dignity, integrity or sound judgment.
Lack bottom
Button
(poker) The player who is last to act after the flop, turn and river, who possesses the button.
Bottom
Power of endurance.
Button
(archaic) A person who acts as a decoy.
Bottom
The base; the fundamental part; basic aspect.
Button
A raised pavement marker to further indicate the presence of a pavement-marking painted stripe.
Bottom
Low-lying land; a valley or hollow.
Where shall we go for a walk? How about Ashcombe Bottom?
Button
(aviation) The end of a runway.
Bottom
(usually: bottoms or bottomland) Low-lying land near a river with alluvial soil.
Button
A methaqualone tablet (used as a recreational drug).
Bottom
(euphemism) The buttocks or anus.
Button
A piece of wood or metal, usually flat and elongated, turning on a nail or screw, to fasten something, such as a door.
Bottom
The lowest part of a container.
Button
A globule of metal remaining on an assay cupel or in a crucible, after fusion.
Bottom
The bed of a body of water, as of a river, lake, or sea.
Button
A knob; a small ball; a small, roundish mass.
Bottom
An abyss.
Button
A small white blotch on a cat's coat.
Bottom
(nautical) A cargo vessel, a ship.
Button
A unit of length equal to 12 inch.
Bottom
(nautical) Certain parts of a vessel, particularly the cargo hold or the portion of the ship that is always underwater.
Button
(generally with the) The means for initiating a nuclear strike or similar cataclysmic occurrence.
Bottom
(baseball) The second half of an inning, the home team's turn at bat.
Button
(lutherie) In an instrument of the violin family, the near-semicircular shape extending from the top of the back plate of the instrument, meeting the heel of the neck.
Bottom
(BDSM) A submissive in sadomasochistic sexual activity.
Button
(lutherie) endbutton, part of a violin-family instrument.
Bottom
(gay slang) A man who prefers the receptive role in anal sex with men.
James and Lukas would make a great couple if they weren't both bottoms.
Button
Synonym of adjuster.
Bottom
(particle physics) bottom quark.
Button
The least amount of care or interest; a whit or jot.
Bottom
A ball or skein of thread; a cocoon.
Button
(television) The punchy or suspenseful line of dialogue that concludes a scene.
Bottom
(obsolete) Dregs or grounds; lees; sediment.
Button
(comedy) The final joke at the end of a comedic act (such as a sketch, set, or scene).
Bottom
(transitive) To furnish (something) with a bottom.
To bottom a chair
Button
(slang) A button man; a professional assassin.
Bottom
(transitive) To pour spirits into (a glass to be topped up with soda water).
Button
The final segment of a rattlesnake's rattle.
Bottom
(obsolete) To wind (like a ball of thread etc.).
Button
A clove of garlic.
Bottom
(transitive) To establish or found (something) on or upon.
Button
(zoology) Pedicle; the attachment point for antlers in cervids.
Bottom
To lie on the bottom of; to underlie, to lie beneath.
Button
(transitive) To fasten with a button.
Bottom
To be based or grounded.
Button
(intransitive) To be fastened by a button or buttons.
The coat will not button.
Bottom
To reach or strike against the bottom of something, so as to impede free action.
Button
(informal) To stop talking.
Bottom
(transitive) To reach the bottom of something.
Button
A knob; a small ball; a small, roundish mass.
Bottom
To fall to the lowest point.
Button
A catch, of various forms and materials, used to fasten together the different parts of dress, by being attached to one part, and passing through a slit, called a buttonhole, in the other; - used also for ornament.
Bottom
To be the submissive partner in a BDSM relationship.
Button
A bud; a germ of a plant.
Bottom
To be anally penetrated in gay sex.
The only time I ever bottomed' in my life, my sphincter was pierced.
Button
A piece of wood or metal, usually flat and elongated, turning on a nail or screw, to fasten something, as a door.
Bottom
The lowest or last place or position.
Those files should go on the bottom shelf.
Button
A globule of metal remaining on an assay cupel or in a crucible, after fusion.
Bottom
(transgender) Relating to the genitals.
Bottom dysphoria
Bottom surgery
Button
To fasten with a button or buttons; to inclose or make secure with buttons; - often followed by up.
He was a tall, fat, long-bodied man, buttoned up to the throat in a tight green coat.
Bottom
The lowest part of anything; the foot; as, the bottom of a tree or well; the bottom of a hill, a lane, or a page.
Or dive into the bottom of the deep.
Button
To dress or clothe.
Bottom
The part of anything which is beneath the contents and supports them, as the part of a chair on which a person sits, the circular base or lower head of a cask or tub, or the plank floor of a ship's hold; the under surface.
Barrels with the bottom knocked out.
No two chairs were alike; such high backs and low backs and leather bottoms and worsted bottoms.
Button
To be fastened by a button or buttons; as, the coat will not button.
Bottom
That upon which anything rests or is founded, in a literal or a figurative sense; foundation; groundwork.
Button
A round fastener sewn to shirts and coats etc to fit through buttonholes
Bottom
The bed of a body of water, as of a river, lake, sea.
Button
An electrical switch operated by pressing a button;
The elevator was operated by push buttons
The push beside the bed operated a buzzer at the desk
Bottom
The fundament; the buttocks.
Button
Any of various plant parts that resemble buttons
Bottom
An abyss.
Button
A female sexual organ homologous to the penis
Bottom
Low land formed by alluvial deposits along a river; low-lying ground; a dale; a valley.
Button
Provide with buttons;
Button a shirt
Bottom
The part of a ship which is ordinarily under water; hence, the vessel itself; a ship.
My ventures are not in one bottom trusted.
Not to sell the teas, but to return them to London in thesame bottoms in which they were shipped.
Button
Fasten with buttons;
Button the dress
Bottom
Power of endurance; as, a horse of a good bottom.
Button
A knob on a device controlling a function.
Press the button to turn on the TV.
Bottom
Dregs or grounds; lees; sediment.
He was at the bottom of many excellent counsels.
Bottom
A ball or skein of thread; a cocoon.
Silkworms finish their bottoms in . . . fifteen days.
Bottom
Of or pertaining to the bottom; fundamental; lowest; under; as, bottom rock; the bottom board of a wagon box; bottom prices.
Bottom
To found or build upon; to fix upon as a support; - followed by on or upon.
Action is supposed to be bottomed upon principle.
Those false and deceiving grounds upon which many bottom their eternal state].
Bottom
To furnish with a bottom; as, to bottom a chair.
Bottom
To reach or get to the bottom of.
Bottom
To rest, as upon an ultimate support; to be based or grounded; - usually with on or upon.
Find on what foundation any proposition bottoms.
Bottom
To reach or impinge against the bottom, so as to impede free action, as when the point of a cog strikes the bottom of a space between two other cogs, or a piston the end of a cylinder.
Bottom
To wind round something, as in making a ball of thread.
As you unwind her love from him,Lest it should ravel and be good to none,You must provide to bottom it on me.
Bottom
The lower side of anything
Bottom
The lowest part of anything;
They started at the bottom of the hill
Bottom
The fleshy part of the human body that you sit on;
He deserves a good kick in the butt
Are you going to sit on your fanny and do nothing?
Bottom
The second half of an inning; while the home team is at bat
Bottom
A depression forming the ground under a body of water;
He searched for treasure on the ocean bed
Bottom
Low-lying alluvial land near a river
Bottom
A cargo ship;
They did much of their overseas trade in foreign bottoms
Bottom
Provide with a bottom or a seat;
Bottom the chairs
Bottom
Strike the ground, as with a ship's bottom
Bottom
Come to understand
Bottom
Situated at the bottom or lowest position;
The bottom drawer
The top shelf
Bottom
At the bottom; lowest or last;
The bottom price
Bottom
The lowest rank;
Bottom member of the class
Bottom
The lowest part or surface of something.
The vase was heavy at the bottom.
Bottom
The furthest point or part.
We hiked to the bottom of the canyon.
Common Curiosities
Can "bottom" refer to a situation?
Yes, "hitting rock bottom" means reaching the lowest point in a situation.
Can "bottom" also mean "foundation"?
Yes, "bottom" can metaphorically mean the foundation or base of something.
Are all buttons meant for fastening?
No, while many buttons are for fastening, others serve as controls on devices or graphical elements on screens.
What's a "button-up" shirt?
A "button-up" shirt refers to a shirt that fastens with buttons.
Can "bottom" refer to hierarchy?
Yes, the bottom of a hierarchy refers to the lowest rank or position.
What is a "buttonhole"?
A "buttonhole" is a slit made in a garment to fasten a button.
Is the sea bottom the same as the seabed?
Yes, the sea bottom and seabed both refer to the floor of a sea or ocean.
How do touch screen buttons work?
Touch screen buttons work using capacitive or resistive technology to detect touch or pressure.
Can "bottom" be used in financial terms?
Yes, "bottom line" is a term used to denote net income or the essential point in a discussion.
Is "bottom" always the deepest point?
In most contexts, bottom denotes the lowest or furthest point, but not necessarily the "deepest."
Are buttons only found on clothing?
No, buttons are also found on devices, machines, and digital interfaces.
How are buttons used in web design?
In web design, buttons are graphical elements that users click to perform actions or navigate.
What's the "bottom of the barrel"?
"Bottom of the barrel" is an idiom meaning the lowest quality or the last remaining part of something.
What does "bottom out" mean?
To "bottom out" means to reach the lowest point, typically before rising again.
Are buttons always round?
No, buttons can be of various shapes, including square, oval, or custom designs.
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Fiza RafiqueFiza Rafique is a skilled content writer at AskDifference.com, where she meticulously refines and enhances written pieces. Drawing from her vast editorial expertise, Fiza ensures clarity, accuracy, and precision in every article. Passionate about language, she continually seeks to elevate the quality of content for readers worldwide.
Edited by
Tayyaba RehmanTayyaba Rehman is a distinguished writer, currently serving as a primary contributor to askdifference.com. As a researcher in semantics and etymology, Tayyaba's passion for the complexity of languages and their distinctions has found a perfect home on the platform. Tayyaba delves into the intricacies of language, distinguishing between commonly confused words and phrases, thereby providing clarity for readers worldwide.
