back to square one

短语

回到起始状态

发音

AU

释义与例句

adj.
  1. 1.

    Located back at the start, as after a dead end or failure.

    习语

    After spending six hours on the intake we realized that there was nothing wrong with it, so we are back to square one.

adv.
  1. 1.

    Back to the start, as after a dead end or failure.

    回到原点

    习语

    After spending six hours on the intake we realized that there was nothing wrong with it, so we went back to square one.

词源

Probably from a metaphorical use of the children’s games snakes and ladders.

来源：wiktionary