IMPROVISE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does improvise mean? 

• IMPROVISE (verb)
  The verb IMPROVISE has 2 senses:

1. perform without preparation

2. manage in a makeshift way; do with whatever is at hand

  Familiarity information: IMPROVISE used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• IMPROVISE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they improvise    ... he / she / it improvises   
Past simple: improvised   
Past participle: improvised   
-ing form: improvising   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Perform without preparation

Classified under:

Verbs of sewing, baking, painting, performing

Synonyms:

ad-lib; extemporise; extemporize; improvise; improvize

Context example:

he extemporized a speech at the wedding

Hypernyms (to "improvise" is one way to...):

do; execute; perform (carry out or perform an action)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s something

Sentence example:

They will improvise the duet

Derivation:

improvisation (a performance given extempore without planning or preparation)

improvisation (an unplanned expedient)

improvisation (a creation spoken or written or composed extemporaneously (without prior preparation))

Sense 2

Meaning:

Manage in a makeshift way; do with whatever is at hand

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Synonyms:

extemporize; improvise

Context example:

after the hurricane destroyed our house, we had to improvise for weeks

Hypernyms (to "improvise" is one way to...):

contend; cope; deal; get by; grapple; make do; make out; manage (succeed in doing, achieving, or producing (something) with the limited or inadequate means available)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s

Derivation:

improvisation (an unplanned expedient)

 Context examples 

Well! said Traddles, we are prepared to rough it, as I said just now, and we did improvise a bed last week, upon the floor here.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

In the course of the afternoon and evening these hints were enlarged on: various soft conversations were reported, and sentimental scenes represented; and, in short, a volume of a novel of fashionable life was that day improvised by her for my benefit.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)