make it up as one goes along en · VERB
Pronunciation
- (Australia) audio
Meanings
-
(idiomatic) To improvise continuously.
This game makes no sense! It's as if you're making it up as you go along!
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 2026:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| made it up as one has gone along | Tense=Past, VerbForm=Part | lexicographic | |
| made it up as one went along | Tense=Past | lexicographic | |
| makes it up as one goes along | Number=Sing, Person=3, Tense=Pres | lexicographic | |
| making it up as one goes along | Tense=Pres, VerbForm=Part | lexicographic |
Relateds
Synonyms
fly by the seat of one's pants
Translations (4)
pl improwizować (to improvise continuously) · pt ir inventando na hora (to improvise continuously) · es inventar a bote pronto (to improvise continuously) · es hacerlo sobre la marcha (to improvise continuously)