off the drawing board

idiom

: beyond the planning stage

The project will never get off the drawing board.

Examples of off the drawing board in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Ideas have moved off the drawing board and into the real world, and scientists, governments, and funders are all getting more thoughtful about using and consuming energy. —Popular Science, 29 Nov. 2023

Engagement starts well before the campaign gets off the drawing board. —Sarah Malcolm, Forbes, 5 Nov. 2021

However, the study left researchers with some unanswered questions to clear up before a therapy gets off the drawing board. —Megan Schmidt, Discover Magazine, 12 Feb. 2019

Those sleek, Art Deco lines came off the drawing board of famed American sailboat designer Bruce King, with a Roaring Twenties-style interior full of Lalique glass and Madrone burlwood paneling by UK superyacht designer Ken Freivokh. —Howard Walker, Robb Report, 14 Apr. 2023

But like exotic sports cars, movies can be hard to get off the drawing board. —William Jeanes, Car and Driver, 4 Feb. 2023

However, as with all patents, this functionality may never make it off the drawing board. —Matthew Humphries, PCMAG, 3 Jan. 2023

Billions of dollars in incentives to keep existing nuclear plants operating and to get new nuclear technologies off the drawing board were enacted as part of the $1.2-trillion infrastructure bill signed late last year by President Biden. —Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times, 6 Jan. 2022

Miniature would not get off the drawing board, Neuhauser went to work for him, eventually becoming senior vice president of SeaLand Service, McLean’s company. —Washington Post, 19 June 2021