How to Use bottom-feeder in a Sentence

bottom-feeder

noun
  • Tomlin wasn’t taking a bottom-feeder job.
    — Jerry Brewer, New York Times, 14 Jan. 2026
  • These sharks are thought to be bottom-feeders, preying on fish that frequent the floors of rivers and estuaries.
    — John P. Rafferty, Encyclopedia Britannica, 13 Mar. 2026
  • Games against real teams will reveal far more about the Magic’s mindset than any blowout over a bottom-feeder.
    — Mike Bianchi, The Orlando Sentinel, 21 Feb. 2026
  • For nearly the first two decades of their existence, the New Orleans Saints were NFL bottom-feeders.
    — Jim Reineking, USA Today, 11 Dec. 2025
  • The Warriors already might be too far ahead in the standings to catch bottom-feeders like the New Orleans Pelicans, Sacramento Kings and Indiana Pacers in the race to maximize their draft-lottery odds.
    — Bryan Toporek, Forbes.com, 20 Jan. 2026
  • Notre Dame men's hoops has become a bottom-feeder in the ACC under Micah Shrewsberry, with a losing record in each of his three seasons, and its best players bolted for better NIL opportunities in the spring.
    — Pete Sampson, New York Times, 26 June 2026
  • Even Miami was a bottom-feeder until Messi arrived, and even then — yes, after 2024 Supporters’ Shield and 2023 Leagues Cup successes — the club suffered a first-round playoff exit in his first full season.
    — Avi Creditor, New York Times, 5 Apr. 2026
  • Chicago is currently mired in a miserable seven-game losing streak, a confounding skid that includes defeats against NBA bottom-feeders like the New Orleans Pelicans, Charlotte Hornets, Indiana Pacers, and Brooklyn Nets.
    — Alex Kirschenbaum, MSNBC Newsweek, 9 Dec. 2025

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'bottom-feeder.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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