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
Mayonnaise, long thought to have been improvised by an 18th century French military chef who was short on cream.
—
David Morgan
july 3, CBS News, 3 July 2025
Zoning, including single-family-exclusive zoning, first spread across the US in the early 20th century (before that, development was far more freewheeling and improvised).
—Marina Bolotnikova, Vox, 7 July 2025
The Russians have improvised a foot crossing over the gap with three logs the size of telegraph poles.
—David Hambling, Forbes.com, 4 July 2025
Measuring himself against the legendary Orson Welles (whose 1938 radio broadcast of Conrad’s story was an influence) meant that Coppola would dare combine personal fears and national hubris (even improvising a reenactment of the My Lai massacre).
—Armond White, National Review, 4 July 2025
See All Example Sentences for improvise
David Morgan
july 3, CBS News, 3 July 2025
Zoning, including single-family-exclusive zoning, first spread across the US in the early 20th century (before that, development was far more freewheeling and improvised).
—Marina Bolotnikova, Vox, 7 July 2025
The Russians have improvised a foot crossing over the gap with three logs the size of telegraph poles.
—David Hambling, Forbes.com, 4 July 2025
Measuring himself against the legendary Orson Welles (whose 1938 radio broadcast of Conrad’s story was an influence) meant that Coppola would dare combine personal fears and national hubris (even improvising a reenactment of the My Lai massacre).
—Armond White, National Review, 4 July 2025
See All Example Sentences for improvise
Recent Examples of Synonyms for improvise
Verb
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As the Panthers’ general manager from 2013 to just before the 2017 season began, Gettleman devised the rosters that pushed Carolina to four playoff berths in five years.—
Scott Fowler,
Charlotte Observer,
17 July 2025
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Participants identify challenges in their communities and devise local, innovative solutions to address them.—
Cynthia Tully,
Forbes.com,
15 July 2025
Verb
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Free to experiment, distillers are concocting playful new expressions that summon the sea to your glass.—
Camille Berry,
Vogue,
15 July 2025
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It’s well established that the Trump-Russia hoax was concocted to harm Trump, but Ratcliffe’s move is a prosecutorial dead end.—
Andrew C. McCarthy,
National Review,
13 July 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 29 Jul. 2025.
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