Definition of "seat-of-the-pants" []

• Slang Based on or using intuition and experience rather than a plan or method; improvised: "Each has already moved beyond seat-of-the-pants management to more professional operating procedures” ( Business Week). (adjective)
• Slang Performed without using instruments: a seat-of-the-pants landing of the aircraft. (adjective)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "They tend to think in images rather than words, focus on the big picture rather than the details, and go through life in a somewhat seat-of-the-pants a.k.a. scattered way."
• "Instead he's a seat-of-the-pants American pragmatist, trying to make things work, lead his team to victory, by muddling through."
• "This too was once a seat-of-the-pants operation that continually presents brave, fresh, young, strong art."