improvise

improvise

See also: improvisé

English

Etymology

From French improviser; ultimately from Latin improvisus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɪmpɹəvaɪz/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Verb

improvise (third-person singular simple present improvises, present participle improvising, simple past and past participle improvised)

1. To make something up or invent it as one goes on; to proceed guided only by imagination, intuition, and guesswork rather than by a careful plan.

   He had no speech prepared, so he improvised.

   They improvised a simple shelter with branches and the rope they were carrying.

   She improvised a lovely solo.

   • 1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], OCLC 21345056, page 173:

     We have improvised the most charming party imaginable. The summer has come back by surprise. I own I wonder that June was not tired of us: still here is a day so sunny, that October does not know its own. The Duke of Wharton, Lord Hervey, and some two or three others, have designed a water-party in our honour.

Synonyms

• fly by the seat of one's pants, play by ear, punt, think on one's feet, wing it

Derived terms

• improvisation
• improvisational
• improvisatory

Translations

to make something up as one goes on

Arabic: إرتجل‎ Asturian: improvisar Belarusian: імправізава́ць impf or pf (impravizavácʹ) Bulgarian: импровизирам (bg) (improviziram) Catalan: improvisar (ca) Chinese: Mandarin: 即興／即兴 (zh) (jíxìng), 现抓 (zh) (xiànzhuā) Czech: improvizovat Danish: improvisere Dutch: improviseren (nl) Finnish: improvisoida (fi), sepittää (fi) French: improviser (fr) German: improvisieren (de) Greek: αυτοσχεδιάζω (el) (aftoschediázo) Ancient: σχεδιάζω (skhediázō) Hungarian: improvizál (hu), rögtönöz (hu) Icelandic: leika af fingrum fram, snarstefja, spinna (is) Irish: seiftigh Italian: improvvisare (it), parlare a braccio Maori: tito ohia Norwegian: improvisere (no) Polish: improwizować (pl) impf, zaimprowizować (pl) pf Portuguese: improvisar (pt) Romanian: improviza (ro) Russian: импровизи́ровать (ru) impf (improvizírovatʹ), сымпровизи́ровать (ru) pf (symprovizírovatʹ) Spanish: improvisar (es) Swedish: improvisera (sv) Ukrainian: імпровізува́ти impf or pf (improvizuváty) Vietnamese: ứng biến (vi), ứng tác, ứng tấu

See also

• extemporaneous
• impromptu
• off the cuff

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French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɛ̃.pʁɔ.viz/

• Audio

  (file)

Verb

improvise

1. inflection of improviser:
   1. first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
   2. second-person singular imperative

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Galician

Verb

improvise

1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive of improvisar

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Latin

Adjective

imprōvīse

1. vocative masculine singular of imprōvīsus

References

• “improvise”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• improvise in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette

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Portuguese

Verb

improvise

1. inflection of improvisar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative

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Spanish

Verb

improvise

1. inflection of improvisar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative