lowest

1. 1
   adjective

   Superlative of low.

   The river reached its lowest level in a decade during the drought.

   Bargain hunters compared every store to find the lowest available fare.

   Note

   Low's superlative carries every meaning of the base word, not only height. The glacier's lowest edge is the physical sense, while the lowest rank or lowest quality draws on low's sense of standing and worth. As an adjective it usually needs a determiner, either the or a possessive such as the glacier's, because it singles out one extreme among three or more.

2. 2
   adverb

   Superlative of low.

   The hawk circled lowest just before diving for its prey.

   Among all the contractors, that firm bid lowest for the project.

   Note

   Here the extreme belongs to an action rather than a thing: whoever bends lowest, the firm that bids lowest. Unlike the adjective, it usually stands bare right after its verb. Its range follows low's adverbial senses: close to the ground for a hawk, quiet for a voice, cheap for a price. That is why both bend lowest and sell lowest sound natural.

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