reset the dial

present singular third person resets the dial · participle present resetting the dial

1. UKidiomaticoftenTo change something radically; to reform or revolutionize something.

   While contemporary designers give us trends, Quant reset the dial on the way we get dressed. Under her influence, women rejected their parents’ vision of beauty and embraced their own.

   2021 October 28, Karen Dacre, “Miniskirt mayhem! Nine ways Mary Quant revolutionised women’s clothes – and lives”, in The Guardian

   3 more examples

   He said: “I’ve been incredibly lucky to play a part in major new media innovations, from the birth of Sun Online to most recently Times Radio, which has reset the dial on what quality news radio can achieve, and I’m pleased to be still playing a part on the station.

   2022 January 10, Laura Webster, “More journalists join Piers Morgan at Rupert Murdoch's TalkTV channel”, in The National

   With the NHS struggling to clear huge surgical and screening backlogs and facing continued pressure from Covid-related staff absences, it’s a tough time for it to take on another major challenge. But ministers have promised to “reset the dial” on gender inequalities in healthcare, with the publication of the first ever government-led women’s health strategy.

   2022 July 20, Hannah Devlin, “Are there enough concrete commitments in the women’s health strategy to truly ‘reset the dial’?”, in The Guardian

   Viewers have since been questioning whether Love Island producers – wary of replicating the toxic masculinity of earlier seasons – have in fact reset the dial too far, with many fans branding the women’s behaviour “toxic femininity”.

   2023 March 12, Eloise Hendy, “Is there really such a thing as ‘toxic femininity’?”, in The Independent