plain sailing

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Trading oil at present is no plain sailing because transiting a tanker through the Strait of Hormuz is no plain sailing, either.

From MarketWatch • Apr. 9, 2026

The album may have taken less than two weeks to record, but you get the impression from other interviews that the process wasn't entirely plain sailing.

From BBC • Jan. 6, 2026

It was never going to be plain sailing.

From BBC • Nov. 25, 2025

Yet it has not all been plain sailing.

From BBC • Nov. 6, 2025

Life is not all plain sailing over sunlit seas, for by-and-by the clouds bank up, storms come on, and the good ship has to do battle with wind and wave.

From From Squire to Squatter A Tale of the Old Land and the New by Stables, Gordon