seat-of-the-pants

American  

[seet-uhv-thuh-pants] / ˈsit əv ðəˈpænts /

adjective

1. using or based on experience, instinct, or guesswork.

   a seat-of-the-pants management style.

2. done without the aid of instruments.

   The pilot made a seat-of-the-pants landing.

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Etymology

Origin of seat-of-the-pants

First recorded in 1940–45

Example Sentences

But Wings’ initial tour, which began in 1972, was deft and a triumph of seat-of-the-pants improvisation.

From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 21, 2025

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

Lapine captures the exciting, seat-of-the-pants nature of this risky collaborative process with interviews of dozens of contributing artists, punctuated with music.

From Seattle Times • Sep. 3, 2021

He also admires their seat-of-the-pants ingenuity, as they attempted to conduct near-impossible missions with little guidance or experience.

From Washington Post • Oct. 8, 2020