drawing board
Americannoun
-
drawing boards
plural
idioms
-
back to the drawing board, back to the original or an earlier stage of planning or development.
Our plan didn't work out, so it's back to the drawing board.
-
on the drawing board, in the planning or design stage.
The shopping center is still on the drawing board.
noun
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a smooth flat rectangular board on which paper, canvas, etc, is placed for making drawings
-
return to an earlier stage in an enterprise because a planned undertaking has failed
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of drawing board
First recorded in 1715–25
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
“We have to be able to go back to the drawing board and figure out how we improve.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 24, 2026
“It sometimes takes a long time to get these projects off the drawing board and to shovels working.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 22, 2026
“It’s something that I’m going to kind of go back to the drawing board in terms of treatment, training program. and see what I can come up with for next season.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 16, 2026
"He has to go back to the drawing board and he can come again."
From BBC ● Aug. 29, 2026
“I suppose we could go back to the drawing board and reallocate our square footage.”
From "A Long Way from Chicago" by Richard Peck
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Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
