drawing board

noun

|Updated on: 17 Jul 2018

Definition of drawing board

1 : a board used as a base for drafting on paper

2 : a planning stage

a project still on the drawing board

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Recent Examples of drawing board from the Web

Embraer brings engineering talent that Boeing could tap for the new midrange jet on its drawing board, dubbed the 797 by analysts.

— fabiola moura, latimes.com, "Boeing takes control of Embraer's commercial jet business in $4.75-billion deal," 5 July 2018
Embraer brings engineering talent that Boeing could tap for the new midrange jet on its drawing board, dubbed the 797 by analysts.

— Fortune, "Boeing and Embraer Are Forming a $4.75 Billion Commercial Jet Venture," 5 July 2018
The redesign of the U.S. 190 intersections has been on the DOTD drawing board for several years.

— kim chatelain, NOLA.com, "11 'super streets' to be built on North Shore's traffic-choked U.S. 190," 3 May 2018
Its population of 264,000 has increased over 6 percent since 2010, according to census data, with thousands of new apartments either under construction or on drawing boards.

— john surico, New York Times, "In Jersey City, Working to Stem the Rise in Traffic Deaths," 9 Apr. 2018
Take a little time off, get back to drawing board and make another run at it next year.

— maureen mullen, USA TODAY, "Promising season ends with bitter taste for Boston Red Sox," 9 Oct. 2017
Surrounded by papers, drawing boards and PowerPoints, the group strategized ways to reverse a trend 15 years in the making: the decline of their own banking sector.

— sharon nunn, WSJ, "As Black-Owned Banks Struggle, Community Sounds Alarm," 6 Aug. 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'drawing board.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.