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blank canvas

noun

Etymology

By analogy with artists who begin with a blank canvas, thereby possessing the freedom to shape it according to their creative inclinations.

Definitions

  1. An unmarked or empty state, offering a limitless potential for creation, development or…

    An unmarked or empty state, offering a limitless potential for creation, development or interpretation.

    • Near-synonyms: new canvas, clean slate, new page, new sheet, new leaf
    • After his ex-wife moved out, his life was a blank canvas.
    • Her gaze was wide while she was wondering; then her lids drooped low, and lower, as on the blank canvas of her mental view there grew laboriously a conception.

  2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically

    Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see blank, canvas.

    • From a practical point of view, it has been easier to apply this model to Spain's high-speed system - effectively a blank canvas - than it would be to Britain's deeply interwoven and congested classic network.

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for blank canvas. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA