wing it

Idioms

Improvise, as in The interviewer had not read the author's book; he was just winging it. This expression comes from the theater, where it alludes to an actor studying his part in the wings (the areas to either side of the stage) because he has been suddenly called on to replace another. First recorded in 1885, it eventually was extended to other kinds of improvisation based on unpreparedness.

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.

In other words, this isn’t the summer to wing it.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 12, 2026

I don’t wing it and hope everything will turn out OK anymore.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 15, 2025

While Darcy Graham's dancing feet threaten on one wing, it was Duhan van der Merwe's power that shrugged off Ellis Mee on the other, creating space for Huw Jones on the outside.

From BBC • Mar. 17, 2025

"The physics tells us that to get a more fuel-efficient wing it needs to be longer and more slender. That means we need to increase the span of the wing," Partridge said.

From Reuters • Jul. 4, 2023

She also claimed you didn’t need patterns to sew, you could get creative and wing it.

From "The Glass Castle" by Jeannette Walls

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023