from scratch
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
to start something from the beginning with no prior basis
Literally: starting with raw materials
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
Eight vehicles will be converted from new or surplus rolling stock for use in the fleet and two new vehicles will be built from scratch.
Due to an unending stream of publicity in all manner of publications, there were constant applications by post and from dancers simply arriving at the office.
British National Corpus sentence via the MAGPIE corpus (CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-30)
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-30; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “from scratch” mean?
to start something from the beginning with no prior basis Literally: starting with raw materials
Is “from scratch” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.