seat-of-the-pants
Americanadjective
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using or based on experience, instinct, or guesswork.
a seat-of-the-pants management style.
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done without the aid of instruments.
The pilot made a seat-of-the-pants landing.
Etymology
Origin of seat-of-the-pants
First recorded in 1940–45
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
So is defeatism, as well as seat-of-the-pants policymaking.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 31, 2026
Bruckheimer remembers the shoot as tough but exhilarating, a product of Scott’s notoriously seat-of-the-pants directing style.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 25, 2025
Then, since they don’t use any actual method or research for those judgments, it’s entirely their seat-of-the-pants opinion about what Americans would do.
From Slate ● Nov. 5, 2024
Their fundraising effort for South African medicine began as a seat-of-the-pants operation with cold calls to likely individuals and foundations.
From Washington Post ● Feb. 22, 2021
Today, there are fewer pilots moving up the ranks by flying aircraft that require seat-of-the-pants skills.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 12, 2020
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.
