Skip to Content

English Club : Learn English : English Language Reference

Reference : Idioms : B : back to the drawing board

< Previous | Next >

back to the drawing board

Meaning: You can say "back to the drawing board" when a plan or a design has failed, and you decide to begin all over again.

For example:

  • Their plans to open a hotel in Fiji fell through, so it was back to the drawing board.

  • Our new drug worked on rats, but when it was tried on people it failed, so we had to go back to the drawing board and start again.

Quick Quiz:

We started an online business, but after a while it was back to the drawing board because
  1. we couldn't make a profit
  2. we made a lot of money
  3. we wanted to improve our drawing

Discuss: back to the drawing board

Idiom of the Day

This entry is in the following categories:


EnglishClub.com - because people speak English