EXTEMPORIZE Synonyms: 28 Similar and Opposite Words

extemporize

verb

ik-ˈstem-pə-ˌrīz

Definition of extemporize

as in to improvise

to perform, make, or do without preparation a good talk show host has to be able to extemporize the interviews when things don't go as planned

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of extemporize The future, instead, seems to belong to the teams and coaches who are willing to be a little more flexible and see their role as providing a platform on which their players might extemporize. — Rory Smith, New York Times, 3 Mar. 2023 Friends said he was talented and could extemporize about anything. — Jacques Kelly, Baltimore Sun, 24 Jan. 2023 Feel free to extemporize, enthuse and connect with people, rather than overwork the data. — Palena Neale, Forbes, 26 Oct. 2021 In public appearances, Emanuel likes to extemporize, cajole, and find a connection. — Connie Bruck, The New Yorker, 19 Apr. 2021 That meant players were able to extemporize, to take chances without being accused of departing too far from the team playbook. — San Diego Union-Tribune, 20 Sep. 2019

Recent Examples of Synonyms for extemporize

Verb

Marina Warner Possessed of Alchemystic Powers Ithell Colquhoun improvised with Surrealist and occult divinatory techniques in her paintings, and also in her writing—and in this lies her true originality.

— Conor Heffernan, The New York Review of Books, 3 Oct. 2026
The result is a more effective change with fewer rumors needing correction, fewer objections stalling adoption and fewer managers left to improvise for their teams.

— John Radman, Forbes.com, 2 Oct. 2026

Definition of improvise

Verb

Gene regulation wasn’t understood when Waddington first devised his landscape and rope network.

— Quanta Magazine, Quanta Magazine, 9 Oct. 2026
Mungiu may have a less sadistic streak and a more active camera, but the two filmmakers share a particular commitment to narrative indeterminacy, devising intricate yet incomplete crime-story plots that function broadly as sociopolitical allegories.

— Justin Chang, New Yorker, 8 Oct. 2026