improv
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of improv
By shortening
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.
But also I knew early on that he was absolutely the right person to do this because we’d had a brief meeting where he and I began to improv.
From Los Angeles Times • May 7, 2026
The writers room is stacked with people who, like Plaza and Wengert, hail from the Upright Citizens Brigade improv world.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 20, 2026
She came up in the world of Toronto’s Second City improv, working as an understudy for Gilda Radner, one of the original seven “Saturday Night Live” cast members.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 30, 2026
“I don’t know what happened,” Manley said, describing the improv session, “but I’m telling you, I blacked out and bee-bopped and scatted all over that room, like George Costanza would say.”
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 26, 2025
He spent part of a summer at the drama school at Northwestern, where the program included a three-day-a-week, three-hour improv session with Dawn Mora, a venerated instructor.
From "Drama High" by Michael Sokolove
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.
