Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Improvised |
ImprovisedAdjective1. Done or made using whatever is available; "crossed the river on improvised bridges"; "the survivors used jury-rigged fishing gear"; "the rock served as a makeshift hammer". Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "improvised" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1615. (references) |
Synonyms: ImprovisedSynonyms: jury-rigged (adj), makeshift (adj). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Impulse | Adjective: extemporaneous, impulsive, indeliberate; snap; improvised, improvisate, improvisatory; unpremeditated, unmeditated; improvise; unprompted, unguided; natural, unguarded; spontaneous; (voluntary); instinctive. |
Nonpreparation | Unrehearsed, unscripted, extemporaneous, improvised, spontaneous, ad lib, ad libitem. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Improvised |
| English words defined with "improvised": ad hoc ♦ banquet song, big band, bootstrap ♦ commedia dell'arte, contrivance ♦ descant, discant ♦ jug band, jury-rigged ♦ lash-up ♦ makeshift ♦ scolion, skiffle ♦ vamp, voluntary ♦ Zareba. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "improvised": battle damage repair ♦ doodles ♦ improvised early resupply, improvised explosive devices ♦ molly-guard ♦ static grizzly ♦ TECHNICIAN, SUBMARINE CABLE EQUIPMENT, tilted outlet type water seal ♦ warned protected. (references) |
| Etymologies containing "improvised": Zareba. (references) |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | Half improvised and half compromised. (1776; writing credit: Sherman Edwards; Peter Stone) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title | ||
Books |
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Theater & Movies | |||
Music |
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
 | [Incubators: An improvised model by a Minneapolis doctor for a premature delivery].Credit: National Library of Medicine. |  | U. S. Army Base Hospital Number 62, Mars, France. : Operating room showing improvised pitcher tips for sterile water, and also improvised instrument tray and lighting.Credit: National Library of Medicine. |
 | [Private McLin's improvised camp dental office].Credit: National Library of Medicine. |  | [An improvised bath house, Gungalin].Credit: National Library of Medicine. |
 | An improvised operating room at a trachoma clinic in Lebanon, Missouri, 1923.Credit: National Library of Medicine. | ||
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Title | Author | Quote |
Les Miserables | Hugo, Victor | Stones improvised like the rest, and obtained nobody knows where. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Civil Liberties | Bosnia and Herzegovina | Thousands of returnees lived in tents or improvised shelters in their former villages and towns, hoping for assistance in rebuilding their homes. (references) |
Human Rights | India | They detonated an improvised explosive device as the minister's car neared Rongali Doegarh, Sivasagar district; no persons were injured in the attack. (references) |
Political Economy | Sudan | Usually it is performed on girls between the ages of 4 and 7 by traditional practitioners in improvised, unsanitary conditions, which cause severe pain, trauma, and risk of infection to the child. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| Speaker | Term | Phrase(s) |
William H. Taft | 1909-1913 | A modern navy can not be improvised. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| "Improvised" is generally used as an adjective (general or positive) -- approximately 60.00% of the time. "Improvised" is used about 195 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Adjective (general or positive) | 60% | 117 | 29,823 |
| Lexical Verb (past tense) | 22.05% | 43 | 52,181 |
| Lexical Verb (past participle) | 16.92% | 33 | 60,273 |
| Noun (proper) | 1.03% | 2 | 245,945 |
| Total | 100.00% | 195 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expressions using "improvised": improvised darkroom ♦ improvised early resupply ♦ improvised explosive device ♦ improvised explosive devices ♦ improvised means. Additional references. | |
| Hypenated Usage | |
Ending with "improvised": half-improvised, part-improvised. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day |
device explosive improvised | 20 |
explosive improvised | 20 |
improvised weapon | 14 |
improvised munitions | 10 |
improvised pyrotechnics | 4 |
firearm improvised | 3 |
improvised lock open tool | 2 |
improvised | 2 |
grenade hand improvised | 2 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "improvised"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Albanian | i improvizuar (extemporaneous, extemporary, impromptu, makeshift). (various references) | |
Arabic | مرتجل (ad lib, extemporaneous, extemporary, extemporized, impromptu, off hand, pickup). (various references) | |
Bulgarian | импровизиран (candid, extemporaneous, extemporary, extempore, impromptu, makeshift, off the cuff, offhand, rough and ready, scratch, unpremeditated). (various references) | |
Chinese | 即兴创作 (improvisation, improvise, Improvising). (various references) | |
Czech | improvizovaný (ad lib, impromptu, offhand, scratch, unprepared, unrehearsed). (various references) | |
Danish | improviseret genforsyning (improvised early resupply), improviserede eksplosive anordninger (improvised explosive devices). (various references) | |
Dutch | Stichting Workshops in Nederland voor de Geïmproviseerde Muziek (Netherlands Organisation of Improvised Music Workshops). (various references) | |
French | improvisé, impromptu (impromptu). (various references) | |
German | improvisiert (extemporaneous, extemporary, impromptu, improvises, makeshift, scratch, unscripted, vamps), extemporiert. (various references) | |
Greek | πρόχειροσ (extemporaneous, handily, handy, makeshift, rough, sketchy), αυτοσχέδιοσ (extemporaneous, extemporary, impromptu, offhand). (various references) | |
Hebrew | מאולתר (extemporary, impromptu). (various references) | |
Hungarian | rögtönzött (ad lib, ad-lib, extemporal, extemporaneous, extemporary, extempore, hop, impromptu, improvisational, jury, makeshift, off hand, off-hand, scratch, snap, unpremeditated, unprompted, unrehearsed). (various references) | |
Italian | improvvisato (extemporary, extempore, impromptu, makeshift, offhand, offhanded). (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | 俄 り (makeshift), 俄仕立て (extemporary), 俄か (abrupt, offhand, sudden, unexpected), 俄 (abrupt, offhand, sudden, unexpected). (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | にわかづくり (makeshift), にわかじたて (extemporary), にわか (abrupt, offhand, sudden, unexpected). (various references) | |
Pig Latin | improviseday.(various references) | |
Portuguese | improvisar (ad lib, extend, gag, patch). (various references) | |
Russian | импровизированный (extemporaneous, makeshift). (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | improvizovan (extemporary, extempore, makeshift, offhand). (various references) | |
Spanish | improvisado (extemporaneous, extemporary, extempore, impromptu, makeshift, offhanded, rough and ready). (various references) | |
Turkish | uydurma (adjustment, apocryphal, arranging, cardboard box, coinage, colorable, concoction, fabled, fabrication, fabulous, fake, false, falsification, fib, fiction, fictitious, fictive, figment, fitting, flam, gold brick, improvisation, invention, made up, making up, mendacious, out of whole cloth, quack, tosh, trumped-up, tuning, untrue, untruth, untruthful), eğreti (artificial, Band aid, extrinsic, jury, makeshift, rough, stopgap, temporary, transitory), doğaçtan söylenmiş. (various references) | |
Ukranian | імпровізований (extemporaneous, impromptu, off the cuff, offhand, offhanded, soapbox), тимчасовий (ambulatory, caducous, casual, extempore, interim, jury, makeshift, provisional, provisory, seasonal, stopgap, temporal, temporary). (various references) | |
Vietnamese | l m ngay được, ứng khẩu l m ứng biến. (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
Misspellings | |
"Improvised" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: imporvise, improvide, improvished, improvisie, improviso, improvize, improvviso, micronised. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "improvised" (pronounced i"mpruvī'zd) |
| 5 | -u v ī' z d | televised. |
| 4 | -v ī' z d | collectivized, supervised, unsupervised. |
| 3 | -ī' z d | accessorized, advertised, agonized, aluminized, amortized, analyzed, anglicized, annualized, antagonized, apologized, authorized, balkanized, brutalized, burglarized, capitalized, capsized, caramelized, carbonized, catalyzed, categorized, centralized, characterized, circumcised, civilized, collateralized, colonized, colorized, commercialized, compromised, computerized, containerized, creolized, criminalized, criticized, crystallized, customized, decentralized, demilitarized, demobilized, democratized, demonized, demoralized, denationalized, denuclearized, departmentalized, depressurized, deputized, desensitized, destabilized, digitized, disenfranchised, disorganized, downsized, dramatized, editorialized, emphasized, energized, enfranchised, epitomized, equalized, eulogized, excised, exercised, familiarized, fantasized, federalized, fertilized, fictionalized, finalized, formalized, fossilized, galvanized, generalized, globalized, harmonized, hellenized, heroized, homogenized, hospitalized, humanized, hydrolyzed, hypnotized, hypothesized, idealized, idolized, immobilized, immunized, industrialized, internalized, ironized, itemized, jeopardized, legalized, legitimized, liberalized, lionized, localized, magnetized, marginalized, materialized, maximized, mechanized, memorialized, memorized, mesmerized, metastasized, midsized, militarized, miniaturized, minimized, mischaracterized, mobilized, modernized, monopolized, motorized, nationalized, naturalized, neutralized, nonunionized, normalized, organized, ostracized, outsized, oxidized, paralyzed, pasteurized, patronized, penalized, personalized, plagiarized, polarized, politicized, polymerized, popularized, pressurized, prioritized, privatized, professionalized, proselytized, publicized, pulverized, radicalized, randomized, rationalized, realized, reauthorized, recapitalized, recognized, regionalized, reorganized, revitalized, revolutionized, romanticized, rubberized, sanitized, scandalized, scrutinized, securitized, sensitized, serialized, socialized, specialized, stabilized, standardized, sterilized, stigmatized, stylized, subsidized, summarized, symbolized, sympathized, synchronized, synthesized, tantalized, terrorized, theorized, traumatized, trivialized, unamortized, unauthorized, undercapitalized, undersized, underutilized, unexercised, unionized, unorganized, unrealized, unrecognized, unsubsidized, urbanized, utilized, vandalized, vaporized, visualized, westernized, winterized. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "d-e-i-i-m-o-p-r-s-v" | |
-1 letter: improvise. | |
-2 letters: disprove, improved, improves, misdrive, misdrove, presidio, prismoid, promised, provides. | |
-3 letters: devisor, devoirs, divisor, imposed, imposer, improve, improvs, ivories, misdoer, periods, pismire, primsie, privies, promise, provide, semipro, spiroid, verismo, viroids, visored, voiders. | |
-4 letters: dermis, devoir, dimers, divers, dopers, dopier, dories, dormie, drives, droves, idioms, imides, impose, improv, iodise, iodism, irides, irised, isomer, moires, mopeds, mopers, mopier, movers, movies, pedros, period, poised, poiser, porism, prides, primed, primes, primos, prised, proems, prosed, proved, proves, redips, rimose, romped, simper, spider, spired, spirem, spored, verism, vermis, vespid, videos, vipers, vireos, viroid, voider, vomers. | |
-5 letters: deism, demos, derms, dimer, dimes, dipso, disme, diver, dives, doers, domes, doper, dopes, dorms, dorps, doser, doves, dries, drips, drive, drops, drove, eidos, emirs, idiom, imide, imido, imids, imped, impis, irids, ivied, ivies, medii, midis, mired, mires, misdo, miser, modes, moire, moped, moper, mopes, mores, morse, moved, mover, moves, movie, omers, osier, overs, pedro, peris, perms, piers, poems, poise, pomes, pored, pores, posed, poser, pride, pried, pries, prime, primi, primo, prims, prise, prism, prods, proem, proms, prose, prove, redip, redos, repos, resid, resod, rides, rimed, rimes, riped, ripes, rived, rives, romps, roped, ropes, rosed, roved, roves, servo, siped, sired, siver, speir, sperm, spied, spier, spire, spode, spore, verso, video, viers, viper, vireo, vires, virid, vised, visor, voids, vomer. | |
| Words containing the letters "d-e-i-i-m-o-p-r-s-v" | |
+2 letters: impoverished. | |
+3 letters: improvidences. | |
+4 letters: oversimplified. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
Hexadecimal (or equivalents, 770AD-1900s) (references)49 6D 70 72 6F 76 69 73 65 64 |
| Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519; backwards) (references)
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| American Sign Language (origins from 1620-1817 in Italy and, especially, France) (references)
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| Semaphore (1791, in France) (references)
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| Braille (1829, in France) (references)
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Morse Code (1836) (references).. -- .--. .-. --- ...- .. ... . -.. |
| Dancing Men (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 1903) (references)
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Binary Code (1918-1938, probably earlier) (references)01001001 01101101 01110000 01110010 01101111 01110110 01101001 01110011 01100101 01100100 |
HTML Code (1990) (references)I m p r o v i s e d |
ISO 10646 (1991-1993) (references)0049 006D 0070 0072 006F 0076 0069 0073 0065 0064 |
| British Sign Language (Fingerspelling, BSL; 1992, British Deaf Association Dictionary of British Sign Language) (references)
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Encryption (beginner's substitution cypher): (references)43798284818875857170 |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Images: Photo Album 7. Quotations: Fiction 8. Quotations: Non-fiction | 9. Quotations: Speeches 10. Usage Frequency 11. Expressions 12. Expressions: Internet | 13. Translations: Modern 14. Derivations 15. Rhymes 16. Anagrams | 17. Orthography 18. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
