Meanings
present singular third person makes it up as one goes along · participle present making it up as one goes along · past made it up as one went along · participle past made it up as one has gone along
- idiomaticTo improvise continuously.
This game makes no sense! It's as if you're making it up as you go along!
1 more example
Hudson Hawk certainly isn't forgettable, but as the plot staggers all over the place, and the tone lurches from gritty to tongue-in-cheek to surreally silly, it's easy to understand why it was a box-office bomb. Still, its anarchic, making-it-up-as-they-go-along spirit could be why it has now attracted a cult following.
2026 May 6, Nicholas Barber, “'A glorious shambles': The Bruce Willis flop that became a cult hit”, in BBC, archived from the original on 07 May 2026Synonyms: fly by the seat of one's pants
Synonyms & antonyms
verbTo improvise continuously.
Translations
Polish improwizować
- improwizowaćto improvise continuously
Portuguese ir inventando na hora
- ir inventando na horato improvise continuously
Spanish hacerlo sobre la marcha, inventar a bote pronto
- hacerlo sobre la marchato improvise continuously
- inventar a bote prontoto improvise continuously
Cite this entry
make it up as one goes along. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/make%20it%20up%20as%20one%20goes%20along
“make it up as one goes along.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/make%20it%20up%20as%20one%20goes%20along. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “make it up as one goes along,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/make%20it%20up%20as%20one%20goes%20along.
Source: make it up as one goes along on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.