extemporize

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Her performance with Charlie Gibson on ABC News, however, did not inspire confidence; she hewed tightly to a script and buzzwords, and seemed afraid to extemporize (which I interpreted as either over-programming, or a lack of internal beliefs to guide her answers).

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Definitions (12)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (2)

  1. transitive verb To do or perform (something) without prior preparation or practice: extemporized an acceptance speech.
  2. intransitive verb To perform an act or utter something in an impromptu manner; improvise: "bravely demonstrating his ability to extemporize intelligently” (William Safire).

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Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (2)

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Examples (50)

  • There is no way to mitigate or extemporize these facts. —  TPMCafe
  • Her performance with Charlie Gibson on ABC News, however, did not inspire confidence; she hewed tightly to a script and buzzwords, and seemed afraid to extemporize (which I interpreted as either over-programming, or a lack of internal beliefs to guide her answers). —  Yet Another Blog about Money
  • Well, let's just skip the weirdness of this too-much-information moment and get to Dylan's assignment: stand up in front of the class and extemporize about good subjects for a magazine article. —  Latest Articles
  • What this means is that you have this amazingly dynamic, expressive language at your fingertips, and you're free to extemporize as you see fit, creating your own mini languages in a flash. —  Bruce Williams
  • You will not be able to extemporize good thinking unless you have been in the habit of thinking and feeding your mind with abundant and nourishing food. —  Recently Uploaded Slideshows
 

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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

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Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
 

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/ɛksˈtɛmpəraɪz/
by American Heritage

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