ad-lib
Example Sentences
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The notion that he’d ad-lib a mention of Harp, or include one in his prepared remarks without thinking through the possible ramifications, strains believability.
From Slate ● Aug. 21, 2026
Williams was elusive and made some great ad-lib plays down the stretch, and they dominated possession, but allowing big plays cost them dearly.
From BBC ● Dec. 8, 2025
What did you think when Karol G did your signature “whoa” ad-lib in the song?
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 6, 2025
I would want to do everything real, and Jonathan would always encourage me to ad-lib and improvise.
From Salon ● Mar. 25, 2025
Kids wouldn’t move to the right places during rehearsals, or would ad-lib wisecracks, which Mrs. Finley didn’t think at all funny.
From "Bad Boy" by Walter Dean Myers
Geller, last year’s valedictorian, ad-libbed “millionaires suck” during his commencement address.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 22, 2026
Perennially quotable, ad-libbed to Brit-accented perfection by co-creators Guest, Michael McKean and Harry Shearer and finessed into an iconic spoof by director Rob Reiner, “Spinal Tap” was born.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 12, 2025
“I was too young to be in the Senate,” he then ad-libbed in a joke, “and too old to be the president.”
From Slate ● Aug. 20, 2024
But not just any communication: an informal, minute-by-minute written down substitution for what might otherwise have been said out loud ad-libbed remarks, lost to the ether moments after their utterance.
From BBC ● Oct. 30, 2023
Using an outline updating the 1938 script, the station’s deejay and news reporters ad-libbed eyewitness accounts of a Martian attack.
From "Spooked!" by Gail Jarrow
His ad-libbing in the post-kinetic stage isn’t his finest hour.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 8, 2026
In one project, Scott Thomas remembers a “poor unfortunate actor” who kept ad-libbing, trailing off his lines so Smith couldn’t pick up her own cue.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 9, 2024
The Fijians have always been everyone’s favorite longshots at the Rugby World Cup due to the way they play, an inventive, ad-libbing attack-from-anywhere kind of ethos.
From Washington Times ● Sep. 18, 2023
He then went further, ad-libbing to suggest that no other world leader would want to change places with Mr. Xi, given the scope of his recent problems.
From New York Times ● Feb. 7, 2023
They talk about their parts, sometimes even ad-libbing lines that are not in the script.
From "Drama High" by Michael Sokolove
Vocabulary lists containing ad-lib
Reading: Literature - Drama - Introductory
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Theater - Introductory
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Reading: Literature - Drama - Middle School
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