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], “Another London Life”, in Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, 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 (vi), ứng tấu (vi)

See also

• extemporaneous
• impromptu
• off the cuff

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

Galician

Verb

improvise

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

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

Portuguese

Verb

improvise

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

Spanish

Verb

improvise

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