from the ground up
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
Completely, starting from the basic elements or foundation
Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt
hoàn toàn, bắt đầu từ các yếu tố cơ bản hoặc nền tảng
Machine-translated — suggest a fix
Literally: from the earth upward
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
The company was rebuilt from the ground up after the bankruptcy
AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)
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 the ground up” mean?
Completely, starting from the basic elements or foundation Literally: from the earth upward
Is “from the ground up” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.