as in devising
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 improvising
That mix of prep and improvising final things on set also worked well for other cast members.
—
Georg Szalai,
HollywoodReporter,
2 July 2026
What made jazz so distinct was the freedom embedded into its structure, with musicians improvising, trading solos and bending notes together.
—
Abraham Swee,
USA Today,
29 June 2026
Advertisement For many Venezuelans, the first days of rescue efforts have depended as much on neighbors improvising as on aid arriving from outside.
—
Philip Wang,
Time,
29 June 2026
What unfolded in the meantime was a population improvising its own search.
—
Luis E. Romero,
Forbes.com,
27 June 2026
The characters have little time to make life-or-death decisions, let alone ruminate, and the action vacillates between triage and doctors expertly improvising solutions — like Mel (Taylor Dearden) donating her own blood, and Javadi (Shabana Azeez) going MacGyver mode with a tracheal tube.
—
Ew Staff,
Entertainment Weekly,
25 June 2026
That turn of phrase, which gives both the band’s eighth album and lead track its title, This Mirror Weighs a Ton, frankly doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, and that’s sort of the point since Banks came up with it while improvising the melodies and vocals simultaneously.
—
Kory Grow,
Rolling Stone,
9 June 2026
No two film or TV shoots are alike, as each director and team of department heads have to find their own unique rhythm that falls somewhere on a spectrum between meticulous storyboarding and completely improvising on set.
—
Christian Zilko,
IndieWire,
6 June 2026
Staff should be trained so schools are not improvising under pressure, and families should know that their children’s schools are places of learning and support.
—
Mercury News Editorial Board,
Mercury News,
27 May 2026
Georg Szalai,
HollywoodReporter,
2 July 2026
What made jazz so distinct was the freedom embedded into its structure, with musicians improvising, trading solos and bending notes together.
—
Abraham Swee,
USA Today,
29 June 2026
Advertisement For many Venezuelans, the first days of rescue efforts have depended as much on neighbors improvising as on aid arriving from outside.
—
Philip Wang,
Time,
29 June 2026
What unfolded in the meantime was a population improvising its own search.
—
Luis E. Romero,
Forbes.com,
27 June 2026
The characters have little time to make life-or-death decisions, let alone ruminate, and the action vacillates between triage and doctors expertly improvising solutions — like Mel (Taylor Dearden) donating her own blood, and Javadi (Shabana Azeez) going MacGyver mode with a tracheal tube.
—
Ew Staff,
Entertainment Weekly,
25 June 2026
That turn of phrase, which gives both the band’s eighth album and lead track its title, This Mirror Weighs a Ton, frankly doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, and that’s sort of the point since Banks came up with it while improvising the melodies and vocals simultaneously.
—
Kory Grow,
Rolling Stone,
9 June 2026
No two film or TV shoots are alike, as each director and team of department heads have to find their own unique rhythm that falls somewhere on a spectrum between meticulous storyboarding and completely improvising on set.
—
Christian Zilko,
IndieWire,
6 June 2026
Staff should be trained so schools are not improvising under pressure, and families should know that their children’s schools are places of learning and support.
—
Mercury News Editorial Board,
Mercury News,
27 May 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for improvising
Verb
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But over the course of the next week, Nakase will be devising a plan to stop Reese.
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However, Solskjaer had spent that off-season devising how United would play with Sancho in an attacking unit alongside Marcus Rashford, Mason Greenwood, Edinson Cavani, Anthony Martial and Dan James, with the likes of Bruno Fernandes just behind.
Verb
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And she’s spent a decade scaling her brand into an industry disrupter; Ellsworth began concocting prebiotic drinks in 2015, founding her business just one year later.
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According to the report, workers illegally pocketed between $20,000 and more than $41,000 in Paycheck Protection Program loans from a massive federal COVID-19 pandemic relief effort – some by concocting companies that didn't exist to pocket federal assistance funds.
Verb
-
And there’s no evidence, no evidence, zero evidence in this country, that there is a problem at scale with people faking their identification in elections.
-
Barry will meet the likes of a woman whose husband was accused of faking cancer, with the allegations continuing after his death, and Sophie Dickson, whose daughter Princess Dickson took her own life earlier this year.
Cite this Entry
“Improvising.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/improvising. Accessed 6 Jul. 2026.
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