ad-lib

UK/æd ˈlɪb/US/æd ˈlɪb/

verbC2neutral

Other forms: ad-libs, ad-libbed, ad-libbing

To ad-lib is to speak without a script, making it up as you go. Ad-lib the last minute.

It comes from the Latin ad libitum, meaning at pleasure. To ad-lib well takes more preparation than reading, which everybody who does it says.

Definitions of ad-lib

1verbad-libTo speak without a script, making it up as you go.C2
“He had to ad-lib for nine minutes while they fixed the sound.”

ad-lib is an action.

ad lib Abbreviation of ad libitum, borrowed from New Latin ad libitum.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA