ad hoc

1. 1.

   often improvised or impromptu

   “an ad hoc committee meeting”

   Similarunplanned
2. 2.

   for or concerned with one specific purpose

   “a coordinated policy instead of ad hoc decisions”

   Similarspecific

1. 1.

   for one specific case

   “they were appointed ad hoc”

Questions about ad hoc

What does ad hoc mean?

ad hoc means "often improvised or impromptu". That is the primary sense; the word has 3 in total, listed in full on this page.

Is ad hoc a common word?

ad hoc is banded "Familiar" — widely understood, used when the subject calls for it. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.