wing it

Idioms  

1. 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.

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

wing it

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

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 12, 2026

Sometimes, to build capacity or save lives, a relief organization simply has to wing it.

From Salon ● Aug. 16, 2025

"Before you could wing it for six months. But now, you have to make it until the end of the war," he writes.

From BBC ● Feb. 3, 2024

If you want to maintain any sort of surprise, you just have to wing it sometimes and hope your instincts are right.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 1, 2023

If she had friends she took to the west wing it was not exactly my affair.

From "Rebecca" by Daphne du Maurier