blank canvas
An unmarked or empty state, offering a limitless potential for creation, development…An unmarked or empty state, offering a limitless potential for creation, development or interpretation.
» The future is a blank canvas.
Meaning
2 senses(also, figuratively)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.
Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see blank, canvas.
Examples
2 sentencesThe future is a blank canvas.
My childhood feels like a blank canvas.
Origin
By analogy with artists who begin with a blank canvas, thereby possessing the freedom to sBy analogy with artists who begin with a blank canvas, thereby possessing the freedom to shape it according to their creative inclinations.
Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Forms
plural: blank canvases / blank canvasses| Singular | blank canvas |
|---|---|
| Plural | blank canvases / blank canvasses |
regular