square one

noun

a starting point; initial stage or step:

If this plan fails, we'll have to go back to square one.

Origin

1955-60; alluding to board games in which a player is penalized by being forced to return to the starting point

Examples from the web for square one

Whatever you decide, you'll be glad you're not starting at square one.
Then if you need an attorney, you will be ready to go, rather than starting at square one.
It's a different skill and you have to go back to square one and learn it.
The trial was halted, hopes were dashed, and the researchers went back to square one.
We will have to start from square one and check and re-check everything.
Three letters in the puzzle have a different typography than the others, with a circular dot instead of a square one.
Each time a writer sits down to create fiction, you start from square one.
The good news is that we're on our way back to square one.
We need to start at square one and think about all these issues.
Nukes could never get to square one in a truly market driven environment.

Slang definitions & phrases for square one

noun phrase

The place where some process begins or has begun; the original configuration: So after all this fuss we are at square one again

[1960+; fr board games where a token is moved off the first square after the shake of a die, drawing of a card, etc]