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

There were, of course, clear signs this was not going to be smooth sailing. —Clare Sebastian, CNN, 13 Feb. 2025

While things appeared to be smooth sailing for two years, Megan was seen stepping out with a new man, soccer star Romelu Lukaku, spring 2023. —Jessica Bennett, VIBE.com, 5 Feb. 2025

But on a ship nearly filled to capacity, our Yacht Club privileges made for smooth sailing. —Elizabeth Heath, Travel + Leisure, 17 Jan. 2025

Still, this season hasn’t been all smooth sailing for the Ingots. —Michael Osipoff, Chicago Tribune, 16 Jan. 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