square one

See synonyms for square one on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. a starting point; initial stage or step: If this plan fails, we'll have to go back to square one.

Origin of square one

1
First recorded in 1955–60; alluding to board games in which a player is penalized by being forced to return to the starting point

Words Nearby square one

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024