blank slate
a fresh start with no prior history
What it means
A blank slate is a state of having no record, expectations, or accumulated baggage — a clean beginning that can be shaped freely. The phrase comes up in talk of new jobs, new relationships, moving to a new city, or rebuilding after failure, and also in philosophy about the human mind at birth.
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Examples
- Moving to a new country gave me a blank slate to reinvent myself.
- The new CEO treated every employee as a blank slate.
- He swore he wanted a blank slate, no questions about the past.
- Children are not entirely a blank slate, despite what some theories claim.
Where it comes from
An English translation of the Latin 'tabula rasa', literally a wax tablet wiped clean. The phrase entered philosophical English through John Locke's 1689 'Essay Concerning Human Understanding', describing the mind at birth as empty of innate ideas.
Related idioms
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