from scratch

phrase

1

: from a point at which nothing has been done ahead of time

build a school system from scratch

2

: without using a prepared mixture of ingredients

bake a cake from scratch

Examples of from scratch in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Teams compensate with prompts and tool-specific definitions, so each new agent project quietly redefines the business from scratch. — Felix Liao, Forbes.com, 26 Oct. 2026

Each new wave of infrastructure sits on top of the last, which means the reorganization does not have to build itself from scratch. — Stephen Messer, Fortune, 23 Oct. 2026

Meet Dessa, our AI model trained from scratch on nothing but speech. — Jay Peters, The Verge, 23 Oct. 2026

The result is a Hornets team that looks drastically different from that of last season, and one that has had to build its team chemistry practically from scratch. — Charlotte Observer, 21 Oct. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1928, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for from scratch

• attach
• bycatch
• despatch
• detach
• dispatch
• mismatch
• nuthatch
• potlatch
• bache
• batch
• brach
• catch