as in to devise
to perform, make, or do without preparation
since the award was a complete surprise, I improvised an acceptance speech
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Recent Examples of improvise
Without governance, students receive mixed messages and faculty are left improvising in isolation.
—
Dr. Aviva Legatt, Forbes.com, 18 Sep. 2025
Allen gets particularly dangerous when he’s allowed to improvise.
—Miami Herald, 17 Sep. 2025
The Godfather filmmaker took a workshop-like approach to Megalopolis, encouraging actors to improvise within a loose script, as Figgis’ documentary shows.
—Jack Smart, PEOPLE, 16 Sep. 2025
The works of Rower’s grandfather, taken together, have an accidental, artisanal air—more like toys improvised and reassembled than objects weighed down by deliberation.
—Adam Gopnik, New Yorker, 15 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for improvise
Dr. Aviva Legatt, Forbes.com, 18 Sep. 2025
Allen gets particularly dangerous when he’s allowed to improvise.
—Miami Herald, 17 Sep. 2025
The Godfather filmmaker took a workshop-like approach to Megalopolis, encouraging actors to improvise within a loose script, as Figgis’ documentary shows.
—Jack Smart, PEOPLE, 16 Sep. 2025
The works of Rower’s grandfather, taken together, have an accidental, artisanal air—more like toys improvised and reassembled than objects weighed down by deliberation.
—Adam Gopnik, New Yorker, 15 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for improvise
Recent Examples of Synonyms for improvise
Verb
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While enjoying drinks at Lucy’s across the street from Paramount Studios, William Wyler, Humphrey Bogart, John Huston and Lauren Bacall devised a hasty plan to show up in Washington to protest the hearings.—
Chris Yogerst,
HollywoodReporter,
6 Oct. 2025
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Performance on tests devised by seasoned professionals across banking, law, and consulting has nearly doubled in little more than a year, according to a preliminary study published in late September by data firm, Mercor.—
Harry Booth,
Time,
6 Oct. 2025
Verb
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Prosecutors described Sanaa Cunningham’s death as the result of a murder plot concocted by her father and stepmother, Germayne and Lisa Cunningham, following months of abuse and neglect.—
Perry Vandell,
AZCentral.com,
29 Sep. 2025
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Swartz concocted this massive blockbuster trade idea, which sends Brown to his hometown team, the Atlanta Hawks.—
Ricardo Klein,
MSNBC Newsweek,
24 Sep. 2025
Verb
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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
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Friends said he was talented and could extemporize about anything.—
Jacques Kelly,
Baltimore Sun,
24 Jan. 2023
Cite this Entry
“Improvise.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/improvise. Accessed 8 Oct. 2025.
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