make it up as one goes along

Verb

make it up as one goes along (third-person singular simple present makes it up as one goes along, present participle making it up as one goes along, simple past made it up as one went along, past participle made it up as one has gone along)

1. (idiomatic) To improvise continuously.
   • This game makes no sense! It's as if you're making it up as you go along!
   • Hudson Hawk certainly isn't forgettable, but as the plot staggers all over the place, and the tone lurches from gritty to tongue-in-cheek to surreally silly, it's easy to understand why it was a box-office bomb. Still, its anarchic, making-it-up-as-they-go-along spirit could be why it has now...2026 May 6, Nicholas Barber, “'A glorious shambles': The Bruce Willis flop that became a cult hit”, in BBC, archived from the original on 07 May 2026

   Synonyms:

   fly by the seat of one's pants