Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Music At the discretion of the performer. Used chiefly as a direction giving license to alter or omit a part.
  • adjective Of or relating to a diet in which the amount of food is not restricted.
  • adverb Music At the discretion of the performer.
  • adverb Without restriction; freely.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun At pleasure; to the extent of one's wishes.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • At one's pleasure; as one wishes.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adverb without advance preparation

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Latin ad, according to + libitum, past participle of libēre, to please.]

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Examples

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Comments

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  • Rx- use as much as one desires; freely.

    February 18, 2009

  • ad libitum |ad ˈlibitəm|

    adverb & adjective

    more formal term for ad lib (sense 2).

    ORIGIN early 17th cent.: Latin, literally ‘according to pleasure.’

    August 20, 2009

  • JM utters, on the spur of the moment, another ad libitum that is not only not written nor rehearsed but will replace some forgotten lines that he can't remember.

    June 27, 2010