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
This reflects conscientiousness, or the tendency to plan, organize and execute systematically versus improvising and adapting in real time.
—
Mark Travers, Forbes.com, 29 Jan. 2026
So neighbors have been improvising.
—Gavin J. Quinton, Los Angeles Times, 21 Jan. 2026
Beverly D'Angelo discussed improvising a scandalous hand gesture in Christmas Vacation.
—Joey Nolfi, Entertainment Weekly, 25 Dec. 2025
The franchise already has its playbook, and judging by social media reactions, Blumhouse ran it without improvising for the win.
—Alison Foreman, IndieWire, 8 Dec. 2025
The country is still bruised, unbalanced and improvising.
—Julia Vargas Jones, CNN Money, 25 Nov. 2025
During an early rehearsal, Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande began improvising a goodbye — speaking, not singing — with their arms wrapped around each other in a corner of the room.
—Clayton Davis, Variety, 21 Nov. 2025
Cohen was involved every step of the way, hitting his marks, taking notes on what could be improved, and even improvising to make the run-through more entertaining.
—Armando Tinoco, Deadline, 20 Nov. 2025
As Swift makes clear, the Theatre endured only because Burbage was good at improvising and snookering his business partners.
—Isaac Butler, The Atlantic, 3 Nov. 2025
Mark Travers, Forbes.com, 29 Jan. 2026
So neighbors have been improvising.
—Gavin J. Quinton, Los Angeles Times, 21 Jan. 2026
Beverly D'Angelo discussed improvising a scandalous hand gesture in Christmas Vacation.
—Joey Nolfi, Entertainment Weekly, 25 Dec. 2025
The franchise already has its playbook, and judging by social media reactions, Blumhouse ran it without improvising for the win.
—Alison Foreman, IndieWire, 8 Dec. 2025
The country is still bruised, unbalanced and improvising.
—Julia Vargas Jones, CNN Money, 25 Nov. 2025
During an early rehearsal, Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande began improvising a goodbye — speaking, not singing — with their arms wrapped around each other in a corner of the room.
—Clayton Davis, Variety, 21 Nov. 2025
Cohen was involved every step of the way, hitting his marks, taking notes on what could be improved, and even improvising to make the run-through more entertaining.
—Armando Tinoco, Deadline, 20 Nov. 2025
As Swift makes clear, the Theatre endured only because Burbage was good at improvising and snookering his business partners.
—Isaac Butler, The Atlantic, 3 Nov. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for improvising
Verb
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And commissioners spent all that time devising the College Sports Commission in an attempt to stabilize the NIL/portal market, then sit back and let one school in their conference steal yet another star QB half an hour before the portal closes.—
Stewart Mandel,
New York Times,
28 Jan. 2026
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The 40-year-old cooks up ways to make quarterbacks miserable in his sleep, devising schemes that are meant to lure as much as they are intended to confuse.—
Dana O’Neil,
CNN Money,
10 Jan. 2026
Verb
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The reality is that the AI is concocting elaborate personas, faking as though humans are writing about human woes.—
Lance Eliot,
Forbes.com,
29 Jan. 2026
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Both activities can be fairly ordinary hobbies—games of imagination not so different from crushing on a pop star or concocting stories about a film protagonist.—
Faith Hill,
The Atlantic,
17 Jan. 2026
Verb
-
Wisconsin doesn't have a crime on the books for faking a death.—
Drake Bentley,
jsonline.com,
3 Feb. 2026
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After faking a slap shot, Kucherov had sent a pass down to Guentzel.—
Fluto Shinzawa,
New York Times,
2 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Improvising.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/improvising. Accessed 15 Feb. 2026.
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