as in impromptu
made or done without previous thought or preparation
not bad for an ad-lib comedy routine
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as in improvisation
something that is performed, made, or done without preparation
you would never suspect that that stirring speech was an ad-lib
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as in to improvise
to perform, make, or do without preparation
had to ad-lib constructing a piñata because she'd never actually seen it being done
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Examples of ad-lib in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Devan Coggan, EW.com, 18 Mar. 2023
At the same time, more ad-lib moments are often expected onstage, bound to keep viewers on the edge of their seats.
—Sabrina Park, Harper's BAZAAR, 15 Mar. 2023
Kimmel had to ad-lib when introducing the editing award.
—Michael Schneider, Variety, 13 Mar. 2023
Mike Barnes, The Hollywood Reporter, 9 Aug. 2024
Once, the teleprompter unexpectedly rebooted toward the end of a speech, forcing Biden to ad-lib while his speechwriter at the time, Dylan Loewe, frantically retyped the ending in real time.
—Josh Dawsey, Washington Post, 4 July 2024
Hand over a prepared text to lawmakers, then ad-lib.
—George Skelton, The Mercury News, 29 June 2024
After Carpenter sang her cheeky ad-lib lyrics, which included a reference to the famous indoor waterfall inside Singapore's Jewel Changi shopping mall, Keoghan smiled and immediately raised his hands above his head in applause.
—Julia Moore, Peoplemag, 3 Mar. 2024
The theater erupted in laughter, but Stewart encouraged him to keep talking about his process after the ad-lib.
—Variety, NBC News, 22 Jan. 2024
No, that's not an ad-lib auto-populated by a word cloud compilation of my secret Pinterest boards circa 2014.
—Danielle Sinay, Glamour, 18 Jan. 2024
The producers let Sorkin ad-lib some of her lines, adding a spontaneity to the usually glum proceedings.
—Neil Genzlinger, BostonGlobe.com, 8 Sep. 2023
When people ad-lib or give their acceptance speeches, the captioners are working from scratch.
—Kirsten Chuba, The Hollywood Reporter, 28 June 2023
Adjective
He's given me a lot of leeway and a lot of leash to go improv and ad-lib and create the character, which is always really fun.
—Devan Coggan, EW.com, 18 Mar. 2023
At the same time, more ad-lib moments are often expected onstage, bound to keep viewers on the edge of their seats.
—Sabrina Park, Harper's BAZAAR, 15 Mar. 2023
Kimmel had to ad-lib when introducing the editing award.
—Michael Schneider, Variety, 13 Mar. 2023
Verb
McCall’s ad-lib joke about beetles (as in the insect) got them the biggest laugh.
—Mike Barnes, The Hollywood Reporter, 9 Aug. 2024
Once, the teleprompter unexpectedly rebooted toward the end of a speech, forcing Biden to ad-lib while his speechwriter at the time, Dylan Loewe, frantically retyped the ending in real time.
—Josh Dawsey, Washington Post, 4 July 2024
Hand over a prepared text to lawmakers, then ad-lib.
—George Skelton, The Mercury News, 29 June 2024
After Carpenter sang her cheeky ad-lib lyrics, which included a reference to the famous indoor waterfall inside Singapore's Jewel Changi shopping mall, Keoghan smiled and immediately raised his hands above his head in applause.
—Julia Moore, Peoplemag, 3 Mar. 2024
The theater erupted in laughter, but Stewart encouraged him to keep talking about his process after the ad-lib.
—Variety, NBC News, 22 Jan. 2024
No, that's not an ad-lib auto-populated by a word cloud compilation of my secret Pinterest boards circa 2014.
—Danielle Sinay, Glamour, 18 Jan. 2024
The producers let Sorkin ad-lib some of her lines, adding a spontaneity to the usually glum proceedings.
—Neil Genzlinger, BostonGlobe.com, 8 Sep. 2023
When people ad-lib or give their acceptance speeches, the captioners are working from scratch.
—Kirsten Chuba, The Hollywood Reporter, 28 June 2023
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'ad-lib.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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Cite this Entry
“Ad-lib.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/ad-lib. Accessed 21 Oct. 2024.
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