Meaning of improvise in English
Table of contents
Pronunciation
/ˈɪmprəˌvaɪz/US accent
UK accent
to browse different examples of pronunciation.Verb
improviseEtymology
early 19th century (earlier (late 18th century) as improvisation): from French improviser or its source, Italian improvvisare, from improvviso‘extempore’, from Latin improvisus‘unforeseen’, based on provisus, past participle of providere‘make preparation for’Definitions
1. perform without preparationExamples
- « he extemporized a speech at the wedding »
Derived terms
- 2. manage in a makeshift way
Examples
- « do with whatever is at hand »
- « after the hurricane destroyed our house, we had to improvise for weeks »
Derived terms
Famous quotes
- « I also think if you're an actor and you can improvise, when you go on an audition and you can improvise you're just a genius. If you can, you know, take a Tide commercial and you can just say one funny line that's not in the commercial they think you're a genius. » Amy Poehler
- « But I really like hosting, I think it's a strength of mine. It allows me to improvise, and I love the spontaneity of that, and I think I'm funny behind the desk when interviewing someone. » Garry Shandling
- « When we were doing 'Freaks and Geeks', I didn't quite understand how movies and TV worked, and I would improvise even if the camera wasn't on me. I thought I was helping the other actors by keeping them on their toes, but nobody appreciated it when I would trip them up. So I was improvising a little bit back then, but not in a productive way. » James Franco
- « Jazz stands for freedom. It's supposed to be the voice of freedom: Get out there and improvise, and take chances, and don't be a perfectionist - leave that to the classical musicians. » Dave Brubeck
- « That's the beauty of music. You can take a theme from a Bach sacred chorale and improvise. It doesn't make any difference where the theme comes from the treatment of it can be jazz. » Dave Brubeck