improvised

[ im-pruh-vahyzd ]

adjective

1. made or said without previous preparation:

   an improvised skit.

   Synonyms: unprepared, unrehearsed, unpremeditated

Other Words From

• im·pro·vis·ed·ly [im-pr, uh, -, vahy, -zid-lee], adverb
• un·impro·vised adjective
• well-impro·vised adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of improvised¹

First recorded in 1830–40; improvise + -ed ²

Synonym Study

See extemporaneous.

Example Sentences

“Kaleidoscope” is a far preferable and more colorful description of Aitken’s ambition here, which takes stunning, impressionistic and often dreamlike images of ordinary people moving through extraordinary California landscapes, and stirs them into seemingly improvised songs as well as familiar minimalist masterpieces by composers like Glass, Steve Reich and Terry Riley.

From Los Angeles Times

With a skeleton crew and Aitken as camera operator, he filmed improvised moments with non-actors, located strange and beautiful pockets of his home state to shoot, and arranged for a coyote, a horse and that mountain lion to take part.

From Los Angeles Times

It would have been playing things by the book, in a year the Dodgers successfully improvised at every other step.

From Los Angeles Times

Then you took the mop and improvised a song about it.

From Los Angeles Times

An improvised aluminum pipe to ingest drugs was also found in Liam’s hotel room, the outlet reported.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• impromptu
• makeshift
• spontaneous