IMPROMPTU

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does impromptu mean? 

• IMPROMPTU (noun)
  The noun IMPROMPTU has 2 senses:

1. an extemporaneous speech or remark

2. a short musical passage that seems to have been made spontaneously without advance preparation

  Familiarity information: IMPROMPTU used as a noun is rare.

• IMPROMPTU (adjective)
  The adjective IMPROMPTU has 1 sense:

1. with little or no preparation or forethought

  Familiarity information: IMPROMPTU used as an adjective is very rare.

• IMPROMPTU (adverb)
  The adverb IMPROMPTU has 1 sense:

1. without advance preparation

  Familiarity information: IMPROMPTU used as an adverb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• IMPROMPTU (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

An extemporaneous speech or remark

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Context example:

a witty impromptu must not sound premeditated

Hypernyms ("impromptu" is a kind of...):

address; speech (the act of delivering a formal spoken communication to an audience)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A short musical passage that seems to have been made spontaneously without advance preparation

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Hypernyms ("impromptu" is a kind of...):

musical passage; passage (a short section of a musical composition)

• IMPROMPTU (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

With little or no preparation or forethought

Synonyms:

ad-lib; extemporaneous; extemporary; extempore; impromptu; off-the-cuff; offhand; offhanded; unrehearsed

Context example:

a few unrehearsed comments

Similar:

unprepared (without preparation; not prepared for)

• IMPROMPTU (adverb)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Without advance preparation

Synonyms:

ad lib; ad libitum; impromptu; spontaneously

Context example:

he spoke ad lib

 Context examples 

Want of breath brought the impromptu ball to a close, and then people began to go.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

The proceedings might have opened by an impromptu bye-battle between the indignant cockney and the gentleman from Bristol, but a prolonged roar of applause broke in upon their altercation.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I ought to have replied that it was not easy to give an impromptu answer to a question about appearances; that tastes mostly differ; and that beauty is of little consequence, or something of that sort.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

But the Emperor's friend covered himself with glory, for he danced everything, whether he knew it or not, and introduced impromptu pirouettes when the figures bewildered him.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

An impromptu circus, fox and geese, and an amicable game of croquet finished the afternoon.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

He had carried it off as a good joke with Scott, excused his little wife as well as he could, and played the host so hospitably that his friend enjoyed the impromptu dinner, and promised to come again, but John was angry, though he did not show it, he felt that Meg had deserted him in his hour of need.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)