ad lib

1. 1.

   without advance preparation

   “he spoke ad lib”

   Synonymsad libitumspontaneouslyimpromptu

Questions about ad lib

What does ad lib mean?

ad lib means "without advance preparation".

What is another word for ad lib?

Close synonyms include ad libitum, spontaneously, impromptu. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is ad lib a common word?

ad lib is banded "Uncommon" — turns up in careful writing rather than conversation. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.