How to Use plain sailing in a Sentence

plain sailing

noun
  • Though the girls are said to be doing well, the surgery was not plain sailing.
    — Lianne Kolirin, CNN, 16 July 2019
  • The start to life at the Signal Iduna Park was not strictly plain sailing, though.
    — SI.com, 25 Oct. 2017
  • Still, no more plain sailing for you now, no getting out of this one: fly to Switzerland, join the rest of the jury, help pick a winner from the nominees.
    — María Gainza, Harper's magazine, 10 May 2019
  • But the period since Atai’s flotation has been anything but plain sailing.
    — David Meyer, Fortune, 5 Dec. 2022
  • Staley’s reign atop Barclays since 2015 has been anything but plain sailing.
    — Washington Post, 1 Aug. 2019
  • Liverpool's run to the final was far from plain sailing, with the team having to overturn a three goal deficit against Barcelona in the semi-final second leg.
    — SI.com, 7 Sep. 2019
  • The family’s first years in Canada were not at all plain sailing, however.
    — Forbes, 10 Nov. 2021
  • If Pogacar's victory was one for the ages, this year's Tour wasn't always plain sailing, however, after a woman held out a banner and caused the crash of dozens of cyclists during the first stage.
    — Matias Grez, CNN, 18 July 2021
  • Installing the London sculpture has not been plain sailing, however.
    — Farah Nayeri, New York Times, 18 June 2018
  • And even if Christmas does turn out to be better than expected – because a Brexit deal has been struck and an election delayed until 2020 — that doesn’t mean plain sailing from now on.
    — Washington Post, 18 Oct. 2019
  • The journey was relatively plain sailing, with only a minor hiccup of a music score flying off a stand, though quickly rescued from the water.
    — Rebecca Ann Hughes, Forbes, 21 Sep. 2021
  • Family travel is rarely plain sailing.
    — Rebecca Ann Hughes, Forbes.com, 25 June 2026
  • Sounds pretty plain sailing for those whose allegiance is to the red side of north London, right?
    — Nnamdi Onyeagwara, New York Times, 16 Mar. 2026
  • The build-up, though, to the title defense has been far from plain sailing.
    — Julia Andersen, CNN Money, 10 June 2025
  • Modernising the world’s maritime fleets is far from plain sailing.
    — David Prosser, Forbes, 18 Mar. 2025
  • Taking the step into the professional game is never plain sailing, though.
    — Peter Rutzler, The Athletic, 25 July 2024

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'plain sailing.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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