improvise

«improvise» in Mova's school dictionary: To make or do something without planning, using whatever… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 1 sentence of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

verb (improvise, improvises, improvised, improvising)

meaning for a pupil

1) To make or do something without planning, using whatever is available. tree →

2) To make up music, words or acting on the spot, without a script. tree →

sense in the lessons

In drama and music lessons pupils improvise a scene or a tune. In everyday life and survival: improvise a tent from a sheet, improvise a bandage from a scarf. In stories it shows a clever, quick-thinking character.

examples

• We had no ball, so we improvised with rolled-up socks. tree →
• The actors had to improvise when they forgot their lines. tree →
• She improvised a tune on the piano. tree →
• He improvised a splint from two rulers. tree →
• We improvised a tent with a blanket and chairs. tree →
• In drama we improvised a scene at the bus stop. tree →

note

Regular verb. Noun: improvisation (informal: impro or improv). Spelling: -ise in the UK, Australia and NZ; also -ise in the USA (improvise is never -ize).

In the corpora

• When an actor forgets a line, making something up to keep the scene going is called improvising, and audiences usually forgive it.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «improvise» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.