Definition of "bottom-line" []

• Concerned exclusively with costs and profits: bottom-line issues. (adjective)
• Ruthlessly realistic; pragmatic: a bottom-line political strategy. (adjective)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "It's hard to believe that sports leaders haven't learned that federal intervention in sports has always been painful -- tarnishing reputations, alienating fans and hurting the bottom-line."
• "From a corporate bottom-line point of view, things like iTunes sales can make a difference, but ratings matter more in the long run."
• "If I spend millions researching the information, discover something juicy, and then the WSJ publishes the bottom-line in a 50 cent print edition, and hundreds of bloggers pick it up for free, how do I recoup my investment?"