Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Spoken, carried out, or composed with little or no preparation or forethought.
  • adverb In an extemporaneous manner.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • On the spur of the moment; without previous study or preparation; offhand: as, to write or speak extempore.
  • Extemporary; extemporaneous.
  • Synonyms See extemporaneous.
  • noun Language uttered or written without previous preparation.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adverb Without previous study or meditation; without preparation; on the spur of the moment; suddenly; extemporaneously.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective carried out with no preparation; impromptu
  • adverb without preparation; extemporaneously
  • noun Something improvised.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adverb without preparation
  • adjective with little or no preparation or forethought
  • adverb without prior preparation

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Latin ex tempore : ex, of; see ex– + tempore, ablative of tempus, time.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin ex ("immediately after") + tempore, ablative singular of tempus ("time", "opportunity", "occasion")

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Examples

  • Don Juan _Don Juan_ or _hooan_ drought _drowt_ drouth _drowth_ extempore _extempore_ (four syllables) familiarity _familyarity_ gaol _jal_ genealogy _-alogy_, not _-ology_ gemus _genyus_

    Practical Grammar and Composition Thomas Wood

  • Then quoth he, “This is a strange manner of daily bread;” and he began re citing in extempore verse: —

    The Book of The Thousand Nights And A Night 2006

  • It was irksome to realize that I could not connect my laptop to the projector, thus making useless the multi-page powerpoint I developed for my portion, but then again, talking extempore is never a problem for me.

    Archive 2004-07-01 Dean Francis Alfar 2004

  • It was irksome to realize that I could not connect my laptop to the projector, thus making useless the multi-page powerpoint I developed for my portion, but then again, talking extempore is never a problem for me.

    talking the talk Dean Francis Alfar 2004

  • Are not they well enough to be done off-hand; for that is the meaning of the word extempore, which you did not know, did you?

    The Journal to Stella 2003

  • Are not they well enough to be done off-hand; for that is the meaning of the word extempore, which you did not know, did you?

    The Journal to Stella Swift, Jonathan, 1667-1745 1901

  • Are not they well enough to be done off-hand; for that is the meaning of the word extempore, which you did not know, did you?

    The Journal to Stella Jonathan Swift 1706

  • 480 Then the gaolers built the cage481 over him and left him therein, lorn and lone, whereupon longing and consternation entered into him and the tongue of his case recited in extempore verse,

    The Book of The Thousand Nights And A Night 2006

  • Besides that, there is now so little room or use for set speeches in our own language in any part of our English business, that I can see no pretence for this sort of exercise in our schools, unless it can be supposed, that the making of set Latin speeches should be the way to teach men to speak well in English extempore.

    Some Thoughts Concerning Education. Sections 171-180 1909

  • These seem to have been either like our dumb-shows, or else a kind of extempore farces -- a thing to this day a good deal in use all over Italy and in

    The Illustrated London Reading Book Various

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