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• Can you wield it? Yes

An improvised weapon includes any object you can wield in one or two hands

• Can you attack with it? Yes

Sometimes characters don't have their weapons and have to attack with whatever is close at hand.

• Does it cause damage when it hits? Yes

• Can you wield it? Yes

  An improvised weapon includes any object you can wield in one or two hands

• Can you attack with it? Yes

  Sometimes characters don't have their weapons and have to attack with whatever is close at hand.

• Does it cause damage when it hits? Yes

The act of attacking with it and causing damage is what causes a non-weapon object to fit the criteria for a weapon and turns a non-weapon object into a weapon. After that attack is over it reverts to being a non-weapon object.

The act of attacking with it and having the potential to cause damage with it is what causes a non-weapon object to fit the criteria for a weapon and turns a non-weapon object into a weapon (for the attack). After that attack is over it reverts to being a non-weapon object.

The same PHB passage gives us the definition:

• Any object being used as a weapon which is not normally a weapon
• A melee weapon being used as a thrown weapon
• A ranged weapon being used as a melee weapon

Yes

The act of attacking with it and causing damage is what causes it to fit the criteria for a weapon and turns a non-weapon object into a weapon. After that attack is over it reverts to being an object.

Analysis

PHB pages 147 - 148:

An improvised weapon includes any object you can wield

...

If a character uses a ranged weapon to make a melee attack, or throws a melee weapon that does not have the thrown property, it also deals 1d4 damage.

This passage gives us the definition:

• Any object being used as a weapon which is not normally a weapon (which you can wield)
• A melee weapon being used as a thrown weapon
• A ranged weapon being used as a melee weapon

Yes, provided it doesn't already count as a weapon prior to the attack

The act of attacking with it and causing damage is what causes a non-weapon object to fit the criteria for a weapon and turns a non-weapon object into a weapon. After that attack is over it reverts to being a non-weapon object.

The corrolary to this is if you are using a proper weapon for a purpose that it was not designed. It remains a weapon for the duration, but while the attack is occuring it is an Improvised Weapon.

PHB pages 147 - 148:

An improvised weapon includes any object you can wield

...

If a character uses a ranged weapon to make a melee attack, or throws a melee weapon that does not have the thrown property, it also deals 1d4 damage.