bottom-up

[ bot-uhm--uhp ]

adjective

1. of, relating to, or originating with the common people, nonprofessionals, or the lower ranks of an organization:

   The five-day workweek was a bottom-up movement that business leaders and politicians finally supported.

2. organized or proceeding from smaller, more detailed units to the larger, more general structure:

   His bottom-up approach to research involves immersing himself in communities to better understand the lives of local entrepreneurs.

bottom-up

adjective

1. from the lowest level of a hierarchy or process to the top

   a bottom-up approach to corporate decision-making

Word History and Origins

Origin of bottom-up¹

First recorded in 1930–35 as an adjective and in 1890–95 as an adverb, both deriving from the phrase “from the bottom up ”

Example Sentences

But we need to build the “field” from the bottom up as well, investing at the local level in the same ideals we demand of the biggest athletic stage we can imagine.

From Los Angeles Times

He sees an L.A. that is decaying from the bottom up.

From Los Angeles Times

If social trust is to be rebuilt, it probably has to be rebuilt on the ground, from the bottom up.

From Seattle Times

“My journey has been bottom up. So I have such an appreciation, not just of the landscape, but of my journey,” she said.

From Los Angeles Times

And yet that ultimately came with a warning, to build, essentially, from the bottom up and look for the tech that accentuates a product rather than the other way around.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• reversed
• upturned