They lost everything and found themselves back at square one.
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Now, lawmakers are back to square one with only a matter of days remaining to address the looming expiration of the enhanced tax credits.—Allison Pecorin, ABC News, 11 Dec. 2025 Each arc, several episodes long, ends with the main character, Keiichi, suffering one gruesome fate after another before the show’s timeline resets and we are delivered back to square one with a new arc and new horrors and trials for Keiichi to face.—Eric Vilas-Boas, Vulture, 31 Oct. 2025 Instead, the Mets are back to square one, pondering a new kind of disappointment.—Tim Britton, New York Times, 30 Sep. 2025 That’s if Subramanian doesn’t toss the whole thing or send it back to square one, an unlikely possibility but still a possibility.—Dominic Patten, Deadline, 29 Sep. 2025 See All Example Sentences for square one
Word History
Etymology
from the use of numbered squares in some board games
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