seat-of-the-pantsadj.
/ˌsiːtə(v)ðəˈpants/, U.S. /ˌsidə(v)ðəˈpæn(t)s/ colloquial.
Of a person: tending to act instinctively, spontaneously, or expediently. Of an activity: done on the basis of practical experience rather than technical knowledge; informal; inexact.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > disregard for truth, falsehood > inaccuracy, inexactness > [adjective]
untruec1220
unrighta1393
amissa1398
unproperc1400
rudec1475
bada1522
haltinga1533
unjust1554
rustical1660
unaccurate1660
inaccurate1665
unprecise1742
unexact1758
imprecise1805
inexact1828
ungrammatical1843
bum1896
dot and carry one1900
seat-of-the-pants1935
the mind > will > intention > unintentional or unplanned character > [adjective] > unplanned > not planning
undesigning1673
offhand1708
off-handed1750
undeliberatinga1763
impulsive1847
seat-of-the-pants1935
1935 Pop. Sci. Monthly Oct. 27/2 Ten years ago, blind flying was known as ‘seat-of-the-pants’ flying, for fog-bound pilots without instruments soon learned to tell whether they were flying right-side-up by the pressure against their parachute packs.
1965 R. Sheckley Game of X (1966) xxi. 146 Flying was in fact extremely difficult, but..I was just one of those seat-of-the-pants naturals who instinctively do everything right.
1971 Sunday Nation (Nairobi) 11 Apr. 29/1 The type of car which I have just put through one of my seat-of-the-pants road tests—the Alfa-Romeo 1300 GT Junior.
1978 Audubon Mar. 99/2 We don't have any hard data. It's a sort of seat-of-the-pants estimate.
1992 Economist 24 Oct. 44/1 Is he to be just another of those seat-of-the-pants, get-through-to-tomorrow politicians, with nothing special to offer?
This is a new entry (OED Third Edition, June 2011; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.1935