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Glite Dictionary
to play it by ear

to play it by ear

11 6.2
Decide what to do as things happen rather than plan ahead
  • idiom
translation icon : improvisar
  • I have no fixed agenda for the meeting; let's just play it by ear.
  • just play it by ear
  • let's play it by ear
  • going to play it by ear

You should not consider this as training because we're just gonna, we're gonna play it by ear.

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Examples

  • Let's just play it by ear.

    Boy Culture (2006)

  • Let's play it by ear and adjust our plans as we go along.

  • We're just playing it by ear and trying to keep her comfortable.

    The Descendants (2011)

  • We're gonna play it by ear.

    One False Move (1991)

  • You want to play it by ear, right?

    Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966)

  • Well, then I guess we're just gonna have to play it by ear, huh?

    Scared Stiff (1987)

  • We'll play it by ear.

    The Ambushers (1967)

  • I like to play it by ear.

    Fiction book (2002)

  • Well, my appointment is Friday, so I guess I'll just play it by ear and see how it goes.

    Blog text (22)

  • We're kind of playing it by ear until we get firm information on logistics for this.

    Blog text (30)

Synonyms

to let the chips fall where they may
vsto play it by ear
  • Informal
6 7.8

To accept what happens and not try to change the result

actively decide steps during unfolding events instead of passively accepting outcomes
to call an audible
vsto play it by ear
  • Informal
4 7.9

Change plans quickly at the last minute when something goes wrong

decide gradually as events unfold rather than only at the last moment
to play the hand one is dealt
vsto play it by ear
1 6.7

To accept what you cannot change and make the best of it

focus on choosing actions as events unfold rather than just accepting limits
to cross that bridge when it comes
vsto play it by ear
  • Informal
5.8

To deal with a problem only when it happens, not before

decide step by step while the situation develops rather than delaying
to take each challenge as they come
vsto play it by ear
  • Informal
5.2

Deal with problems one at a time as they happen

follow the unfolding events to guide decisions, not preplan everything

Antonyms

planning
507 2.2

To think ahead and decide what to do to prepare for something

to stick to one's text
6.9

To follow prepared words when speaking without adding new ideas

How Planned

to prepare
∞ 1.0
to plan
∞ 1.0
to play it by ear
11 6.2
to improvise
141 4.0

Surface Forms

play it by ear infinitive
played it by ear past
played it by ear past participle
playing it by ear present participle
plays it by ear third person singular

Morphology

play + it + by + ear

The phrase extends the literal musical sense of 'play (by) ear' (using hearing rather than a score) to a broader metaphorical meaning of improvising or deciding as you go. Because the link to 'play' + 'ear' is metaphorical and requires knowledge of the musical usage or idiomatic extension, an average B1 learner who only knows the constituent words would only partially infer the intended sense, so it is not fully transparent.

Etymology

The idiom play it by ear comes from musicians who could play a tune by ear, that is, by listening without written music and making it up as they went. So today it means 'to decide as you go' or 'to act without a plan'.