Word of the Day for Saturday May 7, 2005 extempore \ik-STEM-puh-ree\, adverb: Without premeditation or preparation; on the spur of the moment. adjective: Done or performed extempore. Kelso had already delivered his short paper, on Stalin and the archives, at the end of the previous day: delivered it in his trademark style--without notes, with one hand in his pocket, extempore, provocative. --Robert Harris, Archangel Ruskin's Oxford lecture series ended up as a dismaying mix of extempore ramblings and calculated farce. --Valentine Cunningham, "A Victorian Renaissance Man," [1]New York Times, May 14, 2000 _________________________________________________________ Extempore is from the Latin phrase ex tempore, "out of the time," therefore "immediately, at the very time the occasion arises." References 1. http://www.nytimes.com/ Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation http://dictionary.reference.com/search?r=9&q=extempore