performance

American  

[per-fawr-muhns] / pərˈfɔr məns /

noun

1. a musical, dramatic, or other entertainment presented before an audience.

2. the act of performing a ceremony, play, piece of music, etc.

3. the execution or accomplishment of work, acts, feats, etc.

4. a particular action, deed, or proceeding.

5. an action or proceeding of an unusual or spectacular kind.

   His temper tantrum was quite a performance.

6. the act of performing.

7. the manner in which or the efficiency with which something reacts or fulfills its intended purpose.

8. Linguistics. the actual use of language in real situations, which may or may not fully reflect a speaker's competence, being subject to such nonlinguistic factors as inattention, distraction, memory lapses, fatigue, or emotional state.

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performance British  

/ pəˈfɔːməns /

noun

1. the act, process, or art of performing

2. an artistic or dramatic production

   last night's performance was terrible

3. manner or quality of functioning

   a machine's performance

4. informal mode of conduct or behaviour, esp when distasteful or irregular

   what did you mean by that performance at the restaurant?

5. informal any tiresome procedure

   what a performance dressing the children to play in the snow!

6. any accomplishment

7. linguistics (in transformational grammar) the form of the human language faculty, viewed as concretely embodied in speakers Compare competence langue parole

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• misperformance
  noun
• reperformance
  noun

Etymology

Origin of performance

First recorded in 1485–95; perform + -ance

Explanation

Performance has to do with doing something: a concert or play is a performance, and if you want to talk about how well the actors did, you'd rate their performance. The main sense of performance is artsy: actors and musicians (and other performers) give performances. You could praise an actor's performance in a movie, but this word extends to other kinds of work and accomplishments as well. If you're failing math, your performance is below par. An athlete can get in trouble for taking performance-enhancing drugs: drugs that make their performance better. Anytime you're talking about how something or someone works — or performs — you're talking about performance.

Example Sentences

At peak performance, SpaceX said the satellite would be capable of handling 150 kilowatts of AI computing.

From MarketWatch • Jun. 8, 2026

“We see this improving performance as proof that Badger’s manufacturing and commercial strategies are delivering intended results,” the analyst says, pointing to new truck builds ramping up on the back of higher demand in 1Q.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 8, 2026

Some of the dead-on precision of Nilles’ attack was lost by out-of-sync video screens, an annoying glitch that needs attention given her monster performance.

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 8, 2026

Her pitch to voters drew heavily on her sporting success, with references to "winning and losing", teamwork and performance featuring prominently in her manifesto.

From BBC • Jun. 8, 2026

For some reason, though, my performance today is like my baseball tryout—slow, sloppy, and hard to watch.

From "Kwame Crashes the Underworld" by Craig Kofi Farmer

Related Words

• act
• appearance
• behavior
• concert
• dance
• display
• drama
• opera
• play
• portrayal
• presentation
• production
• show