impromptu

Borrowed from French impromptu.

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ɪmˈpɹɒmptju/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /ɪmˈpɹɑmpt(j)u/

impromptu (not comparable)

1. Improvised; without prior preparation, planning or rehearsal.

   Synonyms: extemporaneous, extempore, ad lib, unplanned; see also Thesaurus:impromptu

   The party began with an impromptu rendition of 'Happy Birthday'.

   an impromptu speech

   • 2026 March 29, Matt Mitchell, “In LA, Paul McCartney is king”, in AV Club‎^[1]:

     I can appreciate that Macca’s band plays faithful to the source material, never putting too obvious a personal spin on the music. It’s sometimes frustrating, especially when the solo part in “Get Back” is screaming for some impromptu finesse, but it’s mostly fair.

impromptu (not comparable)

1. Extemporaneously; without prior preparation, planning, or rehearsal.

   Synonyms: ex tempore, extempore, ad lib

   happened impromptu;   was done impromptu

impromptu (plural impromptus)

1. (music) A short musical composition for an informal occasion often with the character of improvisation and usually to be played solo.
   • 1997, Christopher H. Gibbs, The Cambridge Companion to Schubert, Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 168:

     The second impromptu is a dance-like Allegretto in A flat major, with a trio in D flat major employing arpeggiated textures.

2. (by extension) Any composition, musical or otherwise, that is created on the spot without preparation.

Univerbation of the Latin adverbial locution in prōmptū (“ready, at hand”).

• IPA^(key): /ɛ̃.pʁɔ̃p.ty/

• Audio (France (Lyon)):

  (file)

impromptu (feminine impromptue, masculine plural impromptus, feminine plural impromptues)

1. improvised, not planned

   une visite impromptue. ― an unplanned visit

impromptu m (plural impromptus)

1. improvised action

   Synonym: improviste

   à l'impromptu ― (please add an English translation of this usage example)

   • 1868, Sainte-Beuve, Pensées:

     Talleyrand prévoyait à l'avance ses bons mots, que la circonstance lui tirait ensuite à l'impromptu.

     Talleyrand prepared his witticisms in advance, then deployed them spontaneously as the circumstances required.

2. (music) impromptu

   Synonyms: improvisation, impro

   • 1928, Du Bos, Journal:

     Quand je faisais mentalement des réserves sur Fauré, celles-ci portaient sur les Barcarolles, les Nocturnes et les Impromptus.

     When I had reservations in my mind about Fauré, they concerned his barcarolles, his nocturnes and his impromptus.

• “impromptu”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012

Unadapted borrowing from French impromptu (“improvised, not planned; improvised action”).

impromptu (comparative lebih impromptu, superlative paling impromptu)

1. improvised, extemporaneous, unplanned: without prior preparation, planning, or rehearsal

• “impromptu”, in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia [Great Dictionary of the Indonesian Language] (in Indonesian), Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016

Borrowed from French impromptu.

• IPA^(key): /em.prompˈty/^**[1], /em.prompˈtu/^*[2]
• Rhymes: -u

impromptu m (invariable)

1. (music) impromptu

   Synonym: improvviso

Borrowed from French impromptu.

impromptu n (plural impromptuuri)

1. impromptu

impromptu m (plural impromptus)

1. impromptu

• “impromptu”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025