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

Although Verstappen and Red Bull are the team to beat at the moment, their start to 2025 hasn’t been smooth sailing. —Ben Morse, CNN, 14 Mar. 2025

Supporting Aston Villa is not always smooth sailing for the future king, however. —Becca Longmire, People.com, 13 Mar. 2025

That said, Signal hasn't always had smooth sailing regarding security. —PCMAG, 11 Dec. 2024

Things appeared to be smooth sailing for the pair until it was revealed that Lauren, 31, had been seeing a man before coming on the show — and Dave's inner circle happened to know him. —Joelle Goldstein, People.com, 1 Mar. 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