COME DOWN TO, amount to, add up to, be in essence.
→ boil
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boil down to (figurative)
To mean, to signify when reduced to essentials
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Main Entry: ↑boil
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ˌboil ˈdown to [transitive] never progressive [present tense I/you/we/they boil down to he/she/it boils down to present participle boiling down to past tense boiled down to past participle boiled down to] phrasal verb
to be the main reason for something or the most basic part of something
It’s difficult to choose which appliance to buy, but in the end it usually boils down to cost.
Thesaurus: to be important, or to give something importancesynonym
Main entry: boil
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be in essence a matter of
everything boiled down to cash in the end
Useful english dictionary. 2012.