improvise
Americanverb (used with object)
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improvises,
present (3rd person singular)
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improvised,
past participle, past
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improvising
present participle
-
to compose and perform or deliver without previous preparation; extemporize.
to improvise an acceptance speech.
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to compose, play, recite, or sing (verse, music, etc.) on the spur of the moment.
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to make, provide, or arrange from whatever materials are readily available.
We improvised a dinner from yesterday's leftovers.
verb (used without object)
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improvises,
present (3rd person singular)
-
improvised,
past participle, past
-
improvising
present participle
verb
-
to perform or make quickly from materials and sources available, without previous planning
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to perform (a poem, play, piece of music, etc), composing as one goes along
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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improvisesimple
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improvisessimple
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have improvisedperfect
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has improvisedperfect
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am improvisingprogressive
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are improvisingprogressive
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is improvisingprogressive
-
have been improvisingperfect progressive
-
has been improvisingperfect progressive
Past
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improvisedsimple
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had improvisedperfect
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was improvisingprogressive
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were improvisingprogressive
-
had been improvisingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of improvise
First recorded in 1820–30; from French improviser, or its source, Italian improvisare (later improvvisare ), verbal derivative of improviso “improvised,” from Latin imprōvīsus, equivalent to im- “un-” + prōvīsus, past participle of prōvidēre “to see beforehand, prepare, provide for (a future circumstance)”; see im- 2, proviso
Explanation
To improvise means to make something up on the spot, or figure it out as you go. "Our boss decided to improvise his speech at our company meeting and when he started going off-topic, everyone could tell he hadn't prepared in advance." Improvise comes from the Latin word improvisus, meaning "unforeseen, unexpected." Think about when something unexpected happens to you — you have no choice but to react in the moment, or improvise. Another meaning for improvise refers to acting onstage without a script. When actors improvise scenes for an audience, they create funny situations as they go, without having anything pre-planned. The Second City theater in Chicago made this type of comedy famous, with many well-known alumni like Tina Fey and Stephen Colbert.
Vocabulary lists containing improvise
Music - Introductory
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Watch the export miracle turn into a pumpkin or improvise.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 27, 2026
Government contingency plans had "never been stress tested" and officials and ministers were "forced to improvise, establishing new emergency procurement and distribution systems within days".
From BBC ● Jul. 14, 2026
The nationwide Canvas outage that disrupted colleges and universities during finals week forced campuses across the country to improvise as faculty and students suddenly lost access to exams, assignments, grades and other course materials.
From Salon ● May 9, 2026
Theatergoers have to improvise their own interpretive strategies as the play shifts and shifts again.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 25, 2026
Katya Polunina, the 586th’s senior mechanic, and her team were soon forced to improvise once the harsh conditions of winter set in.
From "A Thousand Sisters" by Elizabeth Wein
“But she’s not a scat singer. She improvises more in the technique of the Baroque period, expanding and contracting phrases or adding trills that deviate from the melody.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 11, 2026
An octet of guest artists improvises in certain passages embedded within the score but also plays written-out music with the rest of the orchestra.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 21, 2024
Gilles improvises; not knowing a lick of Persian, he invents words, eventually using the names of prisoners kept in a logbook as mnemonic devices to develop his fictional tongue.
From New York Times ● Jun. 8, 2023
She improvises her way through what she refuses to regard as a disastrous life, walks around rules that make no sense to her, and steamrolls her way over the objections of lesser mortals.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 16, 2023
“Melvin was in the gifted-and-talented program at his old school,” my mom quickly improvises.
From "The Fourteenth Goldfish" by Jennifer L. Holm
One, who said he was aged 17, pointed out an improvised structure of bars and pallets where he and his friends had been sleeping.
From Barron's ● Aug. 1, 2026
Helicopters carrying aid have landed at the improvised hospital and those who lost their homes during the quake are being provided with food, water and clothes.
From BBC ● Jun. 28, 2026
There was all the improvised art, including the chant that swept the town: “My mayor is Muslim / My bagel is Jewish / My Christian’s Dior / Knicks in four.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 18, 2026
"When an innovation takes such deep root in the lives of children, we cannot make an improvised response," France's high commissioner for children Sarah El Hairy said Monday.
From Barron's ● Jun. 16, 2026
The song was always improvised, except for the repeated Oh!
From "Harriet Tubman: Conductor on the Underground Railroad" by Ann Petry
Young men, some barefoot, dart around in the sand under the guidance of a volunteer coach improvising drills amid the shouts.
From Barron's ● Jun. 18, 2026
He liked to play loudly, for many hours at a time, improvising ceaseless and whipsawing sagas of frenetic melodies and emphatic blaring and screeching—it was a whole lot of sound.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 26, 2026
Greek yogurt is one of the few ingredients that has matched my energy in the kitchen: constantly improvising, making it work with what I got, and never letting things go to waste.
From Salon ● Apr. 28, 2026
Elite teams managed by him maintain an ideal combination of intelligence within structure, and he has players capable of improvising solutions when patterns break down.
From BBC ● Apr. 17, 2026
I am not as good at improvising as I had hoped I would be.
From "The Cruel Prince" by Holly Black
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
