Improvisation

3 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Improvisation \Im*prov`i*sa"tion\, n. [Cf. F. improvisation.]
     1. The act or art of composing and rendering music, poetry,
        and the like, extemporaneously; as, improvisation on the
        organ.
        [1913 Webster]
  


     2. That which is improvised; an impromptu.
        [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  improvisation
       n 1: a creation spoken or written or composed extemporaneously
            (without prior preparation)
       2: an unplanned expedient [syn: {temporary expedient}]
       3: a performance given extempore without planning or
          preparation [syn: {extemporization}, {extemporisation}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  94 Moby Thesaurus words for "improvisation":
     action, ad hoc measure, ad lib, ad-libbing, answer, arrangement,
     artifice, authorship, beginning, cadenza, coinage, conception,
     concoction, contrivance, contriving, countermove, coup,
     course of action, creation, creative effort, demarche, device,
     devising, disqualification, dodge, effort, expedient,
     extemporaneousness, extemporariness, extempore, extemporization,
     fabrication, flourish, generation, gimmick, hatching, hot lick,
     impromptu, improvision, incapability, incompetence, interpolation,
     invention, jury-rig, jury-rigged expedient, lack of preparation,
     last expedient, last resort, last shift, lick, makeshift,
     making do, maneuver, means, measure, mintage, move, nonpreparation,
     nonpreparedness, origination, pis aller, planlessness,
     playing by ear, pro tempore, resort, resource, riff, shake-up,
     shift, solution, step, stopgap, stratagem, stroke,
     stroke of policy, tactic, temporary arrangement,
     temporary expedient, temporary measure, trick, trump, unfitness,
     unfittedness, unpreparedness, unqualification, unqualifiedness,
     unreadiness, unsuitability, unsuitableness, unsuitedness, vamp,
     vulnerability, working hypothesis, working proposition