plain sailing

noun

: smooth sailing

Creating the lagoon was not all plain sailing. The bulldozer compacted the soil, and several trees died.

—Eleanor Dwight

Examples of plain sailing in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

No change is ever completely plain sailing and there’s been some kinks to iron out. —Barnaby Lashbrooke, Fortune, 5 June 2023

But the grain deal remains far from plain sailing. —Susie Blann, Chicago Tribune, 8 Aug. 2022

This all sounds incredible, but there are rumors that delivering so much innovation hasn’t been entirely plain sailing. —James Morris, Forbes, 11 Feb. 2023

However, with three failures already, 2023 looks unlikely to be plain sailing. —Julia Buckley, CNN, 11 Feb. 2023

But the period since Atai’s flotation has been anything but plain sailing. —David Meyer, Fortune, 5 Dec. 2022

British history since 1952 hasn’t been plain sailing. —Andrew Roberts, WSJ, 9 Sep. 2022

While both influencers and hotels agree the relationship between the two needs to be mutually beneficial, that doesn't mean the future for the industry is plain sailing. —Melissa Mahtani, CNN, 7 June 2022

But her journey to becoming Instagram’s favorite Ursula Andress has not been plain sailing. —Alice Newbold, Vogue, 9 Jan. 2022

Word History

First Known Use

1796, in the meaning defined above