improvise
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.
to compose, utter, execute, or arrange anything extemporaneously: When the actor forgot his lines he had to improvise.
Origin of improvise
1Other words from improvise
- im·pro·vis·er, im·pro·vi·sor, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use improvise in a sentence
The count, though no longer young, was still handsome, and gifted with that fascination which improvises kingdoms.
The Indian Chief | Gustave AimardIn both of these wayangs the dalang often improvises the dialogue with which the narrative is interspersed.
A Visit to Java | W. Basil WorsfoldIts weapons of defence serve often as pins for the native, who in the forest improvises for himself a hat or umbrella of leaves.
White Shadows in the South Seas | Frederick O'BrienThe child desires an object above his reach; he immediately takes a chair or a stool, and improvises a ladder.
Fundamental Philosophy, Vol. I (of 2) | Jaime Luciano BalmesMan has such a deep-seated need of joy that he improvises it everywhere, even in the heart of misery.
The New Book Of Martyrs | Georges Duhamel
British Dictionary definitions for improvise
/ (ˈɪmprəˌvaɪz) /
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
Origin of improvise
1Derived forms of improvise
- improviser, noun
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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