Business English Vocabulary: What Does “Play It By Ear” Mean?

Business English Vocabulary: What Does “Play It By Ear” Mean? by REAL Business English

Learn Business English vocabulary with our Phrase of the Week!

This week’s phrase is great for moments when you don’t have a clear plan and want to decide as things happen.

What Would You Do in This Situation?

Imagine this:

You’re not sure how busy your day will be. You might have a meeting, but it depends on your client. Your coworker asks, “What’s the plan?”

Let’s just play it by ear.

What does play it by ear mean in Business English?

---

This Week’s Phrase:

PLAY IT BY EAR

idiom

to decide what to do as things happen, not with a fixed plan

---

ADVERTISEMENT

---

Business English Vocabulary: How to Use "Play It by Ear" in Real Situations

Listen to a Real-Life Example

Business English Vocabulary: How to Use "Play It by Ear" in Real Situations by REAL Business English

More Real-Life Examples

Let’s not book a meeting room yet. We’ll play it by ear and see how the day goes.

I’m not sure how long the client will stay, so let’s play it by ear.

We don’t have a fixed plan for the visit. We’ll just play it by ear depending on his mood.

If the team finishes early, we might go over next quarter’s targets—but we’ll play it by ear.

I don’t know how busy I’ll be tomorrow, so let’s play it by ear and check in around noon.

We haven’t decided if we’re joining the trade show. We’re playing it by ear for now.

They asked for a detailed agenda, but honestly, we’ll just play it by ear once we’re there.

There’s no need to plan every minute of the workshop. Let’s play it by ear.

We might stay late if there are questions, but we’ll play it by ear.

Traffic’s unpredictable today. I’ll leave around 4 and play it by ear from there.

---

Let’s Chat!

When do you usually play it by ear?

I usually play it by ear on weekends. If the weather’s nice, I might go out. If not, I’ll stay home and relax. I don’t like planning too much on my days off. (Judy, U.S. native speaker)

Now it’s your turn!

Share your story in the comments — we’d love to hear it!

---

Review what you’ve learned! Click the image to try a 5-Question Quiz based on our latest phrases.

This Week’s Business English Quiz:

Play It By Ear, Go Through the Roof, Back to Square One, Get Some Pushback & Eliminate Bottlenecks

---

ADVERTISEMENT