Idiom Topics
The Ubiquitous Essentials
10- On the other hand
- At the end of the day
- In the long run
- Bear in mind
- A piece of cake
- Keep an eye on
- Out of the blue
- Rule of thumb
- So far, so good
- Behind the scenes
Everyday Casual & Workplace
10- Under the weather
- Call it a day
- Up in the air
- Wrap your head around
- Break the ice
- Get out of hand
- Go the extra mile
- Touch base
- Hit the nail on the head
- Cut corners
Problem Solving & Interaction
10- See eye to eye
- Read between the lines
- Take it with a grain of salt
- Get the hang of it
- Give the benefit of the doubt
- The elephant in the room
- Hit the ground running
- Play it by ear
- Bite the bullet
- Sit on the fence
Decisions & Perspectives
9- Jump on the bandwagon
- Cross that bridge when we come to it
- The best of both worlds
- A blessing in disguise
- Once in a blue moon
- Pull someone's leg
- Miss the boat
- Better late than never
- Get your act together
Colorful & Traditional
10- Spill the beans
- Let the cat out of the bag
- Bite off more than you can chew
- Go back to the drawing board
- Barking up the wrong tree
- Actions speak louder than words
- A penny for your thoughts
- Break a leg
- Hit the sack
- Beat around the bush
Academic & Formal Discourse
10- Bear fruit
- Pave the way
- Shed light on
- Go hand in hand
- Tip the scales
- Fly in the face of
- Bring to the table
- Turn a blind eye
- Draw a blank
- State of the art
Emotions & Reactions
10- Over the moon
- Down in the dumps
- On edge
- Blow off steam
- Keep your cool
- Drive someone up the wall
- On cloud nine
- A weight off my shoulders
- At your wits' end
- Thrilled to bits
Effort, Success, & Failure
10- Start from scratch
- Pass with flying colors
- Fall flat
- Go down the drain
- Keep your head above water
- Pay off
- Throw in the towel
- Make headway
- Uphill battle
- Back to square one
Time, Speed, & Urgency
10- Beat the clock
- At the eleventh hour
- Around the clock
- In the nick of time
- Drag your feet
- Time flies
- Make up for lost time
- Call time on
- Ahead of the curve
- On the spur of the moment
Resources, Money, & Value
10- Make ends meet
- Foot the bill
- Break the bank
- Tighten your belt
- Bang for your buck
- A drop in the ocean
- Make a killing
- On a shoestring budget
- Worth your weight in gold
- Pay top dollar
Go back to the drawing board
Learn the meaning, origin, and usage of the idiom "Go back to the drawing board" with five example sentences across different contexts. This idiom is part of ourColorful & Traditional collection for PTE and IELTS preparation.
Go back to the drawing board
To start a task, project, or plan over again from the very beginning because the previous attempt failed completely.
History & Origin
The phrase originated from a popular satirical cartoon drawn by Peter Arno for The New Yorker magazine in 1941. The cartoon depicted an engineer walking away from a crashed military plane while carrying blueprints, captioned with the line: 'Well, back to the old drawing board.' It perfectly captured the necessity of restarting a design from scratch when a physical prototype fails.
Examples
Since the client rejected our initial marketing proposal, we need to go back to the drawing board and come up with a completely new strategy by Monday.
My homemade sourdough bread completely deflated in the oven, so I guess it is time to go back to the drawing board and check the yeast.
When the laboratory data failed to replicate the original hypothesis, the research team was forced to go back to the drawing board to re-evaluate their primary variables.
After the public backlash over the proposed stadium layout, city planners had to go back to the drawing board to address zoning and traffic concerns.
If our upcoming diplomatic negotiations yield no compromise, both nations must go back to the drawing board to prevent further economic gridlock.
Quiz
Which of the following sentences uses the idiom correctly?
A. After our product launch became a massive international success, management decided to go back to the drawing board to celebrate.
B. The software update was full of critical bugs and crashed user devices, forcing the development team to go back to the drawing board.
C. I am so tired today that I think I will go back to the drawing board and take a long nap until tomorrow morning.
D. She bought a beautiful new drawing board at the store so that she could go back to the drawing board and paint landscapes.