improvise
[im-pruh-vahyz]
- to compose and perform or deliver without previous preparation; extemporize: to improvise an acceptance speech.
- to compose, play, recite, or sing (verse, music, etc.) on the spur of the moment.
- to make, provide, or arrange from whatever materials are readily available: We improvised a dinner from yesterday's leftovers.
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- to compose, utter, execute, or arrange anything extemporaneously: When the actor forgot his lines he had to improvise.
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Origin of improvise
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for improvise
Contemporary Examples
But I will say the hardest to play for me—well, one of the easiest to improvise, but also the hardest character is Liz.
We had to improvise a little bit to make this position work, but it paid off in the end.
A shortage of pentobarbital has forced some states to improvise, often with gruesome consequences.
The Click & Style is easy to talk about because I use it so much, so it was easy to improvise on set.
“We had to improvise,” Yehudit Ayalon, who began working 10-hour shifts in the factory at age 19, told Haaretz last year.
Historical Examples
In cloudy weather you can improvise a game on the dining-room table.
But best of all were the evenings when the Marquis chose to improvise.
The Inn at the Red OakLatta Griswold
We found out about your invention only at the last moment and therefore had to improvise.
ForeverRobert Sheckley
The easiest stretcher for a scout to improvise is the coat stretcher.
Boy Scouts HandbookBoy Scouts of America
And you shall see, too, what a lawyer-like defence I am able to improvise.
Debts of HonorMaurus Jkai
improvise
- to perform or make quickly from materials and sources available, without previous planning
- to perform (a poem, play, piece of music, etc), composing as one goes along
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Word Origin
C19: from French, from Italian improvvisare, from Latin imprōvīsus unforeseen, from im- (not) + prōvīsus, from prōvidēre to foresee; see provide
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for improvise
v.
1826, back-formation from improvisation, or else from French improviser (17c.), from Italian improvisare "to sing or speak extempore," from improviso, from Latin improvisus "unforeseen, unexpected" (see improvisation). Or possibly a back-formation from improvisation. Related: Improvised; improvising.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper