idiom · neutral
go back to the drawing board
UK/ˌɡəʊ bæk tuː ðə ˈdrɔːɪŋ bɔːd/US/ˌɡoʊ bæk tuː ðə ˈdrɔːɪŋ bɔrd/go·back·to·the·DRAW·ing·BOARD
to start again from the beginning because the previous attempt failed
Examples
“The prototype didn't work, so it's back to the drawing board.”
“After the test results, the researchers went back to the drawing board.”
“When the campaign failed, the team went back to the drawing board and redesigned it.”
Band 8 sentence
“The pilot scheme failed its targets, so the planners went back to the drawing board with a completely new strategy.”
Collocations
- go back to the drawing board after feedback
- go back to the drawing board and redesign
Common mistakes
back to drawing board→back to the drawing board
go back drawing board→go back to the drawing board
Say it for a higher band
5start again→6start from scratch→7+go back to the drawing board
Synonyms
start from scratch
Easily confused
start from scratch
“After the system crashed and all files were lost, we had to start from scratch.”
Related words
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In Study
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