IMPROMPTU • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Impromptu

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/ɪmprˈɑmptu/ Listen

noun

Impromptu n.

Something made or done offhand, at the moment, or without previous study; an extemporaneous composition, address, or remark.

(Mus.) A piece composed or played at first thought; a composition in the style of an extempore piece.

adverb

Impromptu adv., adj. Offhand; without previous study; extemporaneous; extempore; as, an impromptu verse.

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Etymology of 'Impromptu'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Impromptu" Quotes from Famous Books

... Frugoni when he might have been something very much better.... If a bird sang, or a cat sneezed, or a dinner was given, or the talk turned upon anything no matter how remote from poetry, it was still for Frugoni an invitation to some impromptu effusion. If he pricked his finger in mending a pen, he called from on high the god of Lemnos and all the ironworkers of Olympus, not excepting Mars, whom it was not reasonable to disturb for so little, and launched innumerable reproaches at them, since without their invention ...

— Modern Italian Poets • W. D. Howells

... violin—he had two, one of which, as he was wont to remark, "lodged" at Mallow. With the help of Penelope and Ralph Fenton, the afternoon was whiled away until a low-toned gong, reverberating through the house was a warning that it was time to dress for dinner, brought the impromptu ...

— The Moon out of Reach • Margaret Pedler

... profitless intimacy. Nay, he thought it would be wise to pick a quarrel with him, if possible, as the best means of banishing a supposed rival from the house of his noble relation, Lord Saxingham. But no opportunity for that step presented itself; so Lumley kept a fit of convenient rudeness, or an impromptu sarcasm, in reserve, if ever it ...

— Ernest Maltravers, Complete • Edward Bulwer-Lytton

... as years prevail At this sad wicked world to rail, To slander all her sex impromptu, And wonder what the times will ...

— Woman's Life in Colonial Days • Carl Holliday

... regarded as an extemporaneous preacher. This is a mistake. He prepared most of his discourses carefully, and full one-half of many of them were written out. Among these written passages he interjected bursts of impromptu thoughts; and these were generally the most effective passages in the sermon. While he repeated himself often—especially on his favorite topic of God's love—yet it was always in fresh language and with new illustrations. Abraham Lincoln said to ...

— Recollections of a Long Life - An Autobiography • Theodore Ledyard Cuyler

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