Meaning

2 senses

  1. (idiomatic)To pilot an aircraft without the aid of instruments and without a flight plan, using only instinct, visual observation, and practical judgment.

  2. (broadly, idiomatic)To use one's judgment, initiative, and perceptions as events unfold in order to improvise a course of action without a predetermined plan or without the desirable data inputs to decision making.

Examples

1 sentences

  1. I broke the fly on another pair of pants.

    Eccles17 · Tatoeba · CC BY 2.0 FR · A2Open on TatoebaReport a problem

Translations

3 languages

Forms

flies by the seat of one's pants, flying by the seat of one's pants, flew by the seat of one's pants, flown by the seat of one's pants
Base formfly by the seat of one's pants · to fly by the seat of one's pants
3rd person singularflies by the seat of one's pants
Present participleflying by the seat of one's pants
Past simpleflew by the seat of one's pants
Past participleflown by the seat of one's pants

irregular · Lesson

Present simpleLesson

I, you, we, theyfly by the seat of one's pants
he, she, itflies by the seat of one's pants

Past simpleLesson

all personsflew by the seat of one's pants

Present perfectLesson

I, you, we, theyhave flown by the seat of one's pants
he, she, ithas flown by the seat of one's pants

Future simple (will)Lesson

all personswill fly by the seat of one's pants

Synonyms

3 synonyms
play by earmake it up as one goes alongwing it

Word family

4 related words
Relatedin flightpantserpantsingseat-of-the-pants

Lessons for this word

3 lessons

See also

neighbours in the dictionary
fluxflyA1flyerflyoverfoal

Dictionary text adapted from Wiktionary (Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Open English WordNet / Princeton WordNet (CC BY 4.0, WordNet License); shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. Example sentences and recordings are credited where they appear.

fly by the seat of one's pants — meaning, examples, forms, synonyms | Krumeto