by the seat of the pants
IdiomsExample Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
“I think it’s going to be a little bit by the seat of the pants because there’s no formula to go by,” Popovich said.
From Seattle Times
This gave them a broad range of aircraft experience, including flying manually with minimal automation — sometimes referred to as “flying by the seat of the pants.”
From Seattle Times
It was always sort of by the seat of the pants.
From Washington Times
It’s always tempting to think of Trump as operating entirely by the seat of the pants, but nobody runs for president without some kind of a plan.
From Salon
“Next time I kept my head up,” Mason recalled, “and he grabbed me by the seat of the pants and scruff of the neck and tossed me aside like a bouncer throwing a drunk out of a beer joint.”
From Washington Post
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.