Phrase guide

back to the drawing board

adv · 1 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

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1

adv

Meaning 1

Indicates that one must try a different strategy in order to achieve some goal following the failure of a recent attempt.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: idiomatic

Examples

  • Well, that didn't work at all, so it's back to the drawing board, I guess.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

Coined as “Well, back to the old drawing board,” as the caption of a cartoon by Peter Arno of The New Yorker on March 1, 1941, depicting an engineer walking away from a crashed plane.

Across languages

Translations

9 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Dutch: terug bij af — back to the beginning
  • Indonesian: kembali ke awal — back to the beginning
  • Indonesian: balik ke awal — back to the beginning
  • Polish: od nowa — back to the beginning
  • Polish: od początku — back to the beginning
  • Polish: od zera — back to the beginning
  • Portuguese: de volta à prancheta de desenho — back to the beginning
  • Russian: нача́ть с нуля́ (načátʹ s nuljá) — back to the beginning
  • Swedish: tillbaka till ritbordet — back to the beginning