from scratch
Meaning
Starting from the beginning with nothing prepared; making or building something anew from basic ingredients or raw materials.
Origin
Originally referred to starting a race at the “scratch” line drawn on the ground. Later broadened to mean starting again from the beginning, and also making something from basic ingredients rather than using pre-made parts.
Notes
Means starting with nothing prepared. Used for rebuilding plans, creating projects, or cooking with basic ingredients (not pre-made). Neutral and common in speech and writing.
Examples
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We built the website from scratch instead of using a template.
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After the hard drive crashed, she had to reinstall everything and start from scratch.
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I didn’t like the first draft, so I rewrote the report from scratch.
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He taught himself to cook from scratch during the lockdown.
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The old house was beyond repair, so they decided to rebuild it from scratch.
Grammar & Usage Notes
Usually used as an adverbial phrase: “start/begin from scratch,” “build/make it from scratch.” Fairly fixed; “from the scratch” is incorrect. Can modify nouns: “a from-scratch recipe.”
Synonyms
- from the beginning
- from the ground up
- from zero
- from square one
- from first principles
Antonyms
- from the outset (for redo sense: not an antonym but contrasts)
- ready-made
- pre-made
- off-the-shelf