Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. The act or art of improvising.
- n. Something improvised, especially a musical passage or a dramatic skit.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. The act of improvising; the act of composing poetry or music extemporaneously.
- n. A product of extemporaneous composition; an impromptu poem or musical performance.
Wiktionary
- n. The act or art of composing and rendering music, poetry, and the like, extemporaneously; as, improvisation on the organ.
- n. That which is improvised; an impromptu.
- n. Musical technique, characteristic of blues music.
- n. The act of improvising, acting or going about something without planning ahead
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. The act or art of composing and rendering music, poetry, and the like, extemporaneously.
- n. That which is improvised; an impromptu.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a creation spoken or written or composed extemporaneously (without prior preparation)
- n. an unplanned expedient
- n. a performance given extempore without planning or preparation
Etymologies
- From French improvisation. (Wiktionary)
Examples
“EK: Well, I think that, for me, I have a lot of issues with the term "improvisation.”
“Sometimes of an evening he would perform upon the piano, indulging in a series of broken chords which he called improvisation, and upon these occasions he felt that he was a kind and thoughtful master when he set the drawing-room door open so that the servants might hear; and as his servants thought so too it was all eminently satisfactory.”
“But I had always been interested in improvisation, even back when I went to music school at Indiana University.”
“In a recession, Barnes says, strategic improvisation is more important then ever.”
“The problem with improvisation is that it attracts attention to the will of the worship leader instead of the one being worshipped.”
“Cause the other big problem with improvisation is that everybody plays all the time unless told not to.”
“No improvisation is allowed in the world of tourism.”
Global Voices in English » Macedonia, Bulgaria: Days of Mourning After the Lake Ohrid Shipwreck
“More power to him: improvisation is the soul of creativity.”
40th Anniversary Folsom Prison Concert Canceled « Skid Roche
“With its distinctive fusion of western theatrical technique and the Andean tradition, the ensemble is rooted in improvisation, physical and vocal work and the belief in the actor as? actor-poet.?”
“Thanks to her old-style class insecurity, the faux-waspy Stewart also feels compelled to present herself as Authority — improvisation is not encouraged — and in this she's adhering to a tradition of dictated taste that The Substance of Style argues is moribund.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘improvisation’.
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MUSIC - jazz
Afro, habanera, pentatonic scale, bop, bebop, jazz, cool jazz, pentatonic, malignment, music genre, jazz musician, syncopate and 437 more...
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MUSIC - ALL TERMS
With focus on non-classical styles, but not excluding terms of the latter.
banjo, accompaniment, acoustic bass, bass guitar, bass clef, ground, brass, cornet, Mute, alto saxophone, baritone saxophone, arrangement and 866 more...
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GRE
predilection, explicit, appeal, supplication, appealing, enchanting, ovation, pertinent, apropos, opportunely, applicable, germane and 381 more...
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Here and Now
Words related to the mental state of "being in the present in the moment".
improvisation, nolens volens, extempore, autoschediastic, in medias res, willy-nilly, egersis, immanence, nunc pro tunc, spontaneity, observant, concentration and 55 more...
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GRE Words From GRE Tests
risqué, wafted, improvisation, retrench, rebuked, perfidy, sophistry, sedulous, coruscate, debilitating, preternatural, teleological and 5 more...
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harmony of the spheres
tonic, supertonic, mediant, subdominant, dominant, submediant, subtonic, leading tone, progression, sonata, concerto, allegro and 247 more...
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Guitarist's Glossary
frets, fretboard, neck, peghead, headstock, tuners, tuning machines, strings, bridge, tremolo, whammy bar, sound hole and 201 more...
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Beautiful Music
a cappella, accelerando, accompagnato, adagio, ad libitum, agitato, aleatory, alla breve, allegro, allemande, alto, andante and 548 more...
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MacBean's Words
verisimilitude, antediluvian, schadenfreude, eviscerate, exsanguinate, onomatopoeia, aesthetic, apocryphal, aubergine, byronic, brouhaha, bordello and 523 more...
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Words under easy
intensification, authorization, centralization, improvisation, harbinger, monotonous, apathy, affability, incongruous, equitable, fortuitous, milieu and 6 more...
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melodious, sexy words
as the title says
rhythm, harmony, sound, a cappella, accelerando, accent, crescendo, espressione, ostinato, timbre, improvisation, duet and 7 more...
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courier12's Words
vertigo, improvisation, coffee, latte, mocha, tea, espresso, island, vigilante, dapper
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evolution
list of words that are associated in my mind with evolution
improvisation, paths, lines, choices, decisions, providence, incidence, osmosis
Tweets
Looking for tweets for improvisation.
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