improvise
verb/ˈɪm.pɹə.vaɪz/
Etymology From French improviser; ultimately from Latin improvisus.
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.
3 more examples
- She improvised a lovely solo.
- 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.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:
- As this terrible emotion took charge of him, he found himself improvising a whole series of lovers for her, imagining them to be waiting around every corner.1988, Salman Rushdie, chapter V, in The Satanic Verses, page 334:
- Derived terms
- improvisable, improvisation, improvisational, improvisatory, improvision, improvisor
- Related terms
- extemporaneous, impromptu, off the cuff