Word.ws English Dictionary

plain sailing

Syllables: plain sail·ingUK/ˌpleɪn ˈseɪlɪŋ/

plain sailing noun: the navigation of waters free from hazards or unfavourable winds. Also the obsolete spelling of plane sailing.

Noun

plain sailing (uncountable)

  1. The navigation of waters free from hazards or unfavourable winds.
  2. (figuratively) Something that is easy, simple, or straightforward; something that offers no difficulties or trouble.
    • [H]e ſhould give himſelf fair play, by trying his hand vvith the rudiments, vvhich vvould no ſooner be run over, than the reſt vvould become plain ſailing: […]1796, [Frances Burney], “Studies of a Grown Gentleman”, in Camilla: Or, A Picture of Youth. […], volume I, London: […] T[homas] Payne, […]; and T[homas] Cadell Jun. and W[illiam] Davies (successors...
    • After this [the whale's tongue] was hoisted in, the rest of the way was plane sailing, the blubber of the body being cut and peeled off, in huge unbroken strips, as the carcass rolled over and over, being heaved on by the windlass, then hooked into by the blubber hooks, and hoisted in by the men...1850, Henry T[heodore] Cheever, “Raising and Cutting-in Whales”, in The Whale and His Captors; or, The Whaleman’s Adventures, and the Whale’s Biography, […], New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […]...

Also used as

plain sailing is also the obsolete spelling of plane sailing.

Examples of plain sailing in a sentence

  • Do you think that will be all such plain sailing? / Dr.1911, Henrik Ibsen, “An Enemy of the People: A Play in Five Acts”, in R[obert] Farquharson Sharp, transl., edited by Ernest Rhys, Ghosts...
  • But with the clues, they are fairly plain sailing.1915 December (date written), [George] Bernard Shaw, “Androcles and the Lion. Preface on the Prospects of Christianity.”, in Androcles and...
  • After that it was plain sailing, though as far as I could know, there might be almost anything ahead of us, and my nerves strained to the snapping-point every instant.1918 September–November, Edgar Rice Burroughs, “The Land That Time Forgot”, in The Blue Book Magazine, Chicago, Ill.: Story-press Corp....
  • At Tebay however, he began to get the mastery over these untoward conditions, and actually got back a little time up to Shap, after which all was plain sailing.1941 November, Cecil J[ohn] Allen, “British Locomotive Practice and Performance”, in The Railway Magazine, London: Tothill Press, →ISSN...

Synonyms of plain sailing

15 more synonymsFewer synonyms

All synonyms of plain sailing

Forms of plain sailing

alternative formplane sailing

Origin of plain sailing

From plain (adjective) + sailing. Sense 2 (“something that is easy, simple, or straightforward”) is attested slightly later than plain-sailing (adjective), and so could have been derived from it.

Words that rhyme with plain sailing

9 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about plain sailing

What does plain sailing mean?
Plain sailing means the navigation of waters free from hazards or unfavourable winds.
How do you use plain sailing in a sentence?
Do you think that will be all such plain sailing? / Dr.
What part of speech is plain sailing?
Plain sailing is a noun.
How do you pronounce plain sailing?
Plain sailing is pronounced /ˌpleɪn ˈseɪlɪŋ/ (UK).

Words near plain sailing in the dictionary

  1. plain people
  2. plain point
  3. plain points
  4. plain pug
  5. plain radiography
  6. plain sailing
  7. plain saw
  8. plain sawed
  9. plain sawing
  10. plain sawn
  11. plain saws

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: plain sailing (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-us-plain sailing.oga.

Cite this entry: “plain sailing.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/plain_sailing. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.