performative

American  

[per-fawr-muh-tiv] / pərˈfɔr mə tɪv /

adjective

1. Philosophy, Linguistics. (of an expression or statement) performing an act by the very fact of being uttered, as with the expression “I promise,” that performs the act of promising.

2. relating to the performance of behaviors associated with a particular social role or identity.

   He reflects on his mother's performative femininity, remembering the times he witnessed her adorning herself with eyeshadow, bracelets, and belts.

3. relating to ways of behaving that exhibit a socially acceptable belief, trait, or quality, often making a superficial impression.

   Performative wokeness enables privileged people to reap the social benefits of wokeness without actually undertaking the necessary legwork to combat inequality.

---

noun

1. a performative utterance.

performative British  

/ pəˈfɔːmətɪv /

adjective

1. 1. denoting an utterance that constitutes some act, esp the act described by the verb. For example, I confess that I was there is itself a confession, and so is performative in the narrower sense, while I'd like you to meet … (effecting an introduction) is performative only in the looser sense See also locutionary act illocution perlocution

   2. ( as noun )

      that sentence is a performative

2. 1. denoting a verb that may be used as the main verb in such an utterance

   2. ( as noun )

      ``promise'' is a performative

---

Other Word Forms

• performatively adverb

Etymology

Origin of performative

First recorded in 1950–55; perform + -ative

Example Sentences

He also posted: "For my entire life, my parents have controlled narratives in the press about our family. The performative social media posts, family events and inauthentic relationships have been a fixture of the life I was born into."

From BBC

District Court Judge David O. Carter kicked off the hearing in November with a searing review of the city’s “pattern of defiance of settlement agreement and the deadlines contained within it with performance or performative compliance only resulting in the wake of court hearings.”

From Los Angeles Times

Once seated, the hospitality sets the tone immediately, attentive and warm without ever feeling performative.

From Salon

On this week’s episode of Amicus, Mark Joseph Stern spoke with Brian Finucane, a senior adviser to the International Crisis Group and a former attorney in the State Department’s Office of the Legal Adviser, about what happens when performative machismo replaces law as a governing principle—and when breaking the rules becomes the point.

From Slate

The dialogue between managers and the public investment community therefore becomes performative theater, revolving around quarterly earnings estimates even though both sides are dubious about the long-run significance of those earnings.

From Barron's