They lost everything and found themselves back at square one.
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Democrats, Schnur said, are essentially back to square one.—Kaitlyn Schallhorn, Oc Register, 13 Apr. 2026 Oftentimes, these keyboards have circular keys instead of square ones, which allows for bigger gaps between the keys.—Bestreviews, Mercury News, 10 Apr. 2026 Waiting for upstream contributors to see the creative can result in a reshoot, pushing teams and budgets back to square one.—Jason Phillips, USA Today, 27 Mar. 2026 With the very real risk of a mistrial being declared and everything going back to square one, the LA Superior Court judge told the jury to keep at it.—Dominic Patten, Deadline, 24 Mar. 2026 See All Example Sentences for square one
Word History
Etymology
from the use of numbered squares in some board games