A Word A Day : Extemporaneous





Wednesday, 21st May 2008 : Today's Word is ...


Extemporaneous



( Adjective )




Pronunciation : ik-stèmpe-ráynee-ess


Definition:



1. performed without any preparation

2. prepared in advance but delivered without notes

3. skilled at speaking without preparation or notes

4. done as a temporary measure


Etymology:


Mid-17th century - late Latin - extemporaneus - ex tempore - literally - out of the moment


Synonyms:


ad-lib, extemporary, extempore, impromptu, improvised, offhand, snap,


Antonyms:


prepared


Contextual Examples:


• The speech teacher made the students give two extemporaneous speeches during the school year.

• Your own gift you can present every moment with the cumulative force of a whole life's cultivation; but of the adopted talent of another you have only an extemporaneous half possession.

• The child, sitting down with the old man close behind it, had been thinking how strange it was that horses who were such fine honest creatures should seem to make vagabonds of all the men they drew about them, when a loud laugh at some extemporaneous witticism of Mr Short's, having allusion to the circumstances of the day, roused her from her meditation and caused her to look around.

• He is an accomplished extemporaneous speaker.


Related Words:



extemporize : Verb

extemporary : Adjecive

extemporal : Adjecive

extempore : Adjecive

extemporaneously : Adverb

extemporaneity : Noun

extemporaneousness : Noun

extemporization : Noun

extemporizer : Noun


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