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noun

something improvised in speech, music, etc.: Was that joke part of your speech or an ad lib?

adverb

at one's pleasure; without restriction.

freely; as needed; without stint: Water can be given to the patients ad lib.

Origin:
1810–20; see ad libitum

Dictionary.com Unabridged

verb (used with object)

to improvise all or part of (a speech, a piece of music, etc.): to ad-lib one's lines.

verb (used without object)

to act, speak, etc., without preparation: Throughout the play he had to ad-lib constantly.

adjective

impromptu; extemporaneous: ad-lib remarks to hecklers.

Origin:
1915–20, Americanism; v. use of ad lib

Related forms

ad-lib·ber, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Ad-lib is one of our favorite verbs.

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to flee; abscond:

to introduce subtleties into or argue subtly about.

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Collins

World English Dictionary

ad-lib (ædˈlɪb)

—vb , -libs, -libbing, -libbed
1.	to improvise and deliver without preparation (a speech, musical performance, etc)

—*adj*
2.	improvised; impromptu

—*adv*
3.	without restraint; freely
4.	music short for ad libitum

—n
5.	an improvised performance, often humorous

[C18: short for Latin ad libitum, literally: according to pleasure]

ad-'libber

—n

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline

Word Origin & History

ad lib

1811, from L. ad libitum "at one's pleasure, as much as one likes" (c.1600), from libere "to please." First recorded as one word 1919 (v.), 1925 (n.).

American Heritage

Medical Dictionary

ad lib. abbr.
Latin ad libitum (freely, as desired)

American Heritage

Abbreviations & Acronyms

ad lib
Latin ad libitum (at pleasure, speak without notes or scriptâthat is, an unscripted comment)

Matching Quote

"That the world is not the embodiment of an eternal rationality can be conclusively proved by the fact that the piece of the world that we know—I mean our human reason—is not so very rational. And if it is not eternally and completely wise and rational, then the rest of the world will not be either; here the conclusion a minori ad majus, a parte ad totum applies, and does so with decisive force."

-Friedrich Nietzsche

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