Word of the Day

: May 7, 2024

extemporize

verb ik-STEM-puh-ryze

What It Means

To extemporize means to do something extemporaneously—in other words, to improvise.

// A good talk show host must be able to extemporize when interviews don’t go as planned.

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extemporize in Context

“The president was fast on his feet. Sensing an opportunity to extemporize, he looked around the chamber, pleased.” — Robin Abcarian, The Los Angeles Times, 12 Feb. 2023

Did You Know?

Let’s dive into the essence of extemporize by exploring its origins. (We’ll try not to bore you with too many extraneous details.) To extemporize is to say or do something off-the-cuff; extemporize was coined by adding the suffix -ize to the Latin phrase ex tempore, meaning “on impulse” or “on the spur of the moment.” (Incidentally, ex tempore was also borrowed wholesale into English with the meaning “in an extemporaneous manner.”) Other descendants of ex tempore include the now rare extemporal and extemporary—both synonyms of extemporaneous—and as you have no doubt guessed by now, extemporaneous itself.