extemporaneous

extemporaneous, extempore, extemporary, improvised, impromptu, offhand, unpremeditated mean composed, concocted, devised, or done at the moment rather than beforehand. Extemporaneous, extempore, and extemporary in their more general applications stress something made necessary by the occasion or situation and may suggest sketchiness or crudity in the thing modified

{

extemporaneous cover during the snowstorm

}

{

the old woman had erected a clothesline as a sort of extempore tent— Powys

}

{

there was enthusiasm over the extemporary throwing together and dispatching of the United Nations Emergency Force— Panter-Downes

}

The terms may retain this value when applied to modes of expression or to persons as sources of expression

{

a detective who has had to resort to extemporaneous prevarications on numerous occasions to crash police lines— Gardner

}

{

the aesthetic horror of extempore prayer— Laski

}

but more usually, and in technical context routinely, they imply a well thought-out plan or outline that is given spontaneity in presentation by fresh, unstudied choice of words

{

extempore speaking is a form of prepared speaking on a selected topic in which everything is ready for delivery except the exact words to be used .... Extempore speaking is neither impromptu speech, manuscript reading, nor memorized speech—it is different from all other types and in many ways superior to them— Holley

}

{

guided by notes rather than by a regular script, her own comment is largely extemporaneous in style— Current Biog.

}

Improvised stresses the absence of foreknowledge of what is to be accomplished and therefore the composing, concocting, devising, or constructing of something without advance thought or preparation and often without the necessary tools, instruments, or other equipment

{

an improvised musical accompaniment

}

{

an improvised pantomime

}

{

an improvised bed for the night in the open

}

{

when an emergency came an army had to be improvised— Buchan

}

Impromptu stresses the immediate response to a need or suggestion and the spontaneous character of what is composed or concocted on the spur of the moment; thus, an impromptu speech is one prepared at a moment's notice and delivered without notes or a preconceived plan; an impromptu meal is one prepared from what is available usually at an unusual time or for an unexpected number of people

{

postponements or changes of plan were always impromptu— Davenport

}

Offhand, both as adjective and adverb, carries so much stronger an implication of casualness, carelessness, or indifference than any of the preceding terms that at times it loses its suggestion of an impromptu character and means little more than curt or brusque

{

an offhand comment

}

{

an offhand salute

}

{

a father can't make offhand remarks to a 4-year-old and have them gently slip into oblivion— McNulty

}

{

an offhand manner of dealing with strangers

}

Unpremeditated emphasizes less strongly than extemporaneous and impromptu the immediate stimulus of an occasion, but it usually suggests some strong, often suddenly provoked emotion which drives one to action

{

[skylark] that from heaven, or near it, pourest thy full heart in profuse strains of unpremeditated art— Shelley

}

{

unpremeditated murder

}

Analogous words: *spontaneous, impulsive: ready, prompt, apt, *quick

Contrasted words: planned, designed, projected, schemed (see corresponding verbs under PLAN n): *deliberate, considered, studied, advised, premeditated: formal, ceremonious, *ceremonial, conventional