from scratch

Idioms  

1. From the very beginning, from the outset; from nothing. For example, I knew we'd have a problem from scratch. Similarly, to start from scratch means “to start from the very beginning,” as in After the business failed, they decided to reorganize and start from scratch. This term comes from racing, where a competitor starts from the line scratched into the ground (whereas others may start ahead with a handicap). [Mid-1800s] Also see from the ground up; from the word go.

---

Example Sentences

On Tuesday, Truell showcased the company’s latest 1.5-trillion-parameter model at Cursor’s Compile developer day, trained from scratch on over 100,000 Nvidia GPUs.

From MarketWatch • Jun. 19, 2026

Other firms have to build their policies from scratch.

From Barron's • Jun. 17, 2026

So instead of starting from scratch, I opted for something that leaned into the shortcuts, unapologetically.

From Salon • Jun. 14, 2026

The structure, designed by Maybe Paris with Hermès creative director Nadège Vanhee-Cybulski, was built from scratch and took three weeks to build.

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 5, 2026

“It’s just that”—she’s grasping for the right words—“when I had my bat mitzvah, I’d been in Hebrew school since I was seven. You can’t just start from scratch now and be ready by December.”

From "Linked" by Gordon Korman