Race to the Bottom
Noun Phrase · Slang & Abbreviations
Definitions
A downward competition where choices get worse over time because everyone optimizes for the same narrow short-term measure. In engineering slang, the phrase appears when cost, speed, or vanity metrics start eroding quality together.
In plain English: A downward spiral where competition or incentives drive everyone toward worse outcomes.
Example: "The vendor selection process turned into a race to the bottom once price dominated every other criterion and long-term support quality effectively stopped counting."