smooth sailing

idiomatic phrase

: easy progress without impediment or difficulty

After the mix-up was rectified, it was smooth sailing again.

—Mike Brown

He just kept talking and talking his nonstop sunny talk about what a great summer we were going to have and that he had tons of plans and that we would get caught up as father and son and soon all our rough past would be behind us and we would have nothing but smooth sailing for our future.

—Jack Ganto

Examples of smooth sailing in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

But almost everything else was was very smooth sailing. —Proma Khosla, IndieWire, 19 July 2025

Though with on again, off again tariff negotiations, there’s no guarantee of smooth sailing from here on out. —Brandon Kochkodin, Forbes.com, 16 July 2025

It’s been far from smooth sailing for Armando Vasquez and Mike Hastings. —Jenna Thompson july 8, Kansas City Star, 8 July 2025

After leaving Petaluma and navigating the eternal mess of Highway 37 along the northern edge of San Pablo Bay, Porter made it to Interstate 80, headed east, still hoping for smooth sailing to his assignment. —Santa Rosa Press Democrat, Mercury News, 3 July 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1824, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for smooth sailing

• assailing
• availing
• bewailing
• blackmailing
• curtailing
• derailing
• descaling
• detailing
• dovetailing
• entailing
• exhaling
• impaling