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

Once the theme crystallizes for you, the rest is smooth sailing. —Deb Amlen, New York Times, 27 Mar. 2025

The Blue Devils haven't seen a close game in the first two rounds, and it's been fairly smooth sailing so far. —Paul Du Quenoy, MSNBC Newsweek, 28 Mar. 2025

Despite what social media may portray, travel isn’t always smooth sailing. —Kathleen Wong, USA TODAY, 26 Feb. 2025

Following the successes of Blade and Blade II, Blade: Trinity was expected to be smooth sailing to success. —Stephanie Sengwe, People.com, 18 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