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Meaning & use

seat of the pants

phrase, adjective·Advancedinformal

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UK/ˌsiːt əv ðə ˈpænts/
US/ˌsiːt əv ðə ˈpænts/

Meanings

  1. phraseidiominformal

    Used in the phrase by the seat of your pants, meaning doing something using instinct and experience rather than a careful plan.

    Grammar: Used as an adverbial phrase: they ran the shop by the seat of their pants.

    Patterns

    • fly by the seat of your pants
    • do something by the seat of your pants

    The founders ran the company by the seat of their pants in the early years.

    We had no map, so we navigated by the seat of our pants.

    She learned to cook by the seat of her pants, without any recipes.

  2. adjectivebefore a nouninformal

    Done without careful planning or instruments, relying on instinct.

    Grammar: Usually hyphenated before a noun: a seat-of-the-pants decision.

    Patterns

    • a seat-of-the-pants approach

    His seat-of-the-pants style worried the cautious accountants.

    It was a seat-of-the-pants decision, made in a hurry.

Common combinations

fly by the seat of your pants
He had to fly by the seat of his pants during the live broadcast.
seat-of-the-pants decision
It was a seat-of-the-pants decision with no data behind it.
seat-of-the-pants management
Seat-of-the-pants management works until the business grows.
run by the seat of your pants
She runs the event by the seat of her pants.
seat-of-the-pants approach
A seat-of-the-pants approach may save time but risks mistakes.

Synonyms and how they differ

improvised
Improvised is neutral and describes making something up as you go, while seat of the pants is informal and idiomatic.
instinctive
Instinctive stresses natural feeling, while seat of the pants also suggests a lack of planning.
off the cuff
Off the cuff is mainly about speaking without preparation, whereas seat of the pants applies to any activity.
ad hoc
Ad hoc is formal and suggests arranging as needed, with less of the risk implied by seat of the pants.

Opposites

plannedmethodical

Word family

seat noun
the part you sit on
pants noun
trousers, in American usage
improvise verb
to do without preparation

Commonly confused: seat of the pants or by the skin of your teeth?

seat of the pants vs by the skin of your teeth

This means only just managing to succeed; seat of the pants means acting on instinct without a plan.

Practice

With no guidebook, we explored the city ____.

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