square one

Noun

idiomatic no-plural

(idiomatic) The place where one begins; a lack of progress.

Japanese Meaning

出発点、初めの段階 / 進展がなく、物事が動いていない状態

After the failed experiment, the team was back at square one.

実験が失敗したため、チームは出発点に戻った。

Sense（1）

(idiomatic) The place where one begins; a lack of progress.

We discovered that our first idea would never work, so we were back to square one.