Rate this phrase:5.0 / 1 vote

play it by ear

To do something by guessing, intuition, or trial and error; to react to events as they occur.
247 Views
“

If they ask for something we didn't prepare, we will have to play it by ear.

Collection   Edit    

Submitted on September 01, 2009

Additional definitions for 'play it by ear':

play it by earTo play a song according to how it sounds, rather than from a written score.
Play it by EarTo take ones next move when one is already faced with a situation, to devise or improvise things
See them all »

Translation

Find a translation for the play it by ear phrase in other languages:

Select another language:

  • - Select -
  • 简体中文 (Chinese - Simplified)
  • 繁體中文 (Chinese - Traditional)
  • Español (Spanish)
  • Esperanto (Esperanto)
  • 日本語 (Japanese)
  • Português (Portuguese)
  • Deutsch (German)
  • العربية (Arabic)
  • Français (French)
  • Русский (Russian)
  • ಕನ್ನಡ (Kannada)
  • 한국어 (Korean)
  • עברית (Hebrew)
  • Gaeilge (Irish)
  • Українська (Ukrainian)
  • اردو (Urdu)
  • Magyar (Hungarian)
  • मानक हिन्दी (Hindi)
  • Indonesia (Indonesian)
  • Italiano (Italian)
  • தமிழ் (Tamil)
  • Türkçe (Turkish)
  • తెలుగు (Telugu)
  • ภาษาไทย (Thai)
  • Tiếng Việt (Vietnamese)
  • Čeština (Czech)
  • Polski (Polish)
  • Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian)
  • Românește (Romanian)
  • Nederlands (Dutch)
  • Ελληνικά (Greek)
  • Latinum (Latin)
  • Svenska (Swedish)
  • Dansk (Danish)
  • Suomi (Finnish)
  • فارسی (Persian)
  • ייִדיש (Yiddish)
  • հայերեն (Armenian)
  • Norsk (Norwegian)
  • English (English)

Nearby phrases

Some more phrases from our dictionary similar to play it by ear

play onplay gooseberryplay onplay in Peoriaplay offplay hookeyPlay Fast and Looseplay inplay offplay it straightplay for timeplay onplay it straightplay hob with

How to pronounce this phrase?

Discuss this play it by ear phrase with the community:

0 Comments

    Citation

    Use the citation below to add this play it by ear definition to your bibliography:

    Style:MLAChicagoAPA

    "play it by ear." Phrases.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 24 Apr. 2024. <https://www.phrases.com/phrase/play-it-by-ear_6144>.

    Powered by CITE.ME Cite.Me

    We need you!

    Help us build the largest human-edited phrases collection on the web!

    Quiz

    Are you a phrases master?

    »
    Thou doth ______ too much.
    A think
    B eat
    C drink
    D protest

    Browse Phrases.com

    #ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ