outperform
Americanverb (used with object)
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outperforms,
present (3rd person singular)
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outperformed,
past participle, past
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outperforming
present participle
verb
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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outperformsimple
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outperformssimple
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have outperformedperfect
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has outperformedperfect
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am outperformingprogressive
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are outperformingprogressive
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is outperformingprogressive
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have been outperformingperfect progressive
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has been outperformingperfect progressive
Past
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outperformedsimple
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had outperformedperfect
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was outperformingprogressive
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were outperformingprogressive
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had been outperformingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of outperform
Explanation
To outperform is to accomplish something in a better or more impressive way that someone else. In a marathon, the younger runners usually outperform the very oldest ones. Whenever you surpass or beat the record of another person, you can say you outperform them. Experienced workers frequently outperform newer employees, and pundits like to worry aloud about students in other countries who outperform American kids on standardized tests. You can also say that an investment that makes more money outperforms a less profitable one.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
This allowed the researchers to identify the general circumstances in which heterogeneity can outperform uniformity.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 19, 2026
The legacy investor, who now is chairman of Berkshire after spending decades as its CEO, has believed for a long time that stocks almost certainly outperform bonds.
From Barron's ● Sep. 16, 2026
Macquarie has an outperform rating on Suncorp and an underperform rating on IAG.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 14, 2026
In April, Anthropic roiled the AI world when it said it found that its Mythos tool could outperform humans at some hacking and cybersecurity tasks.
From BBC ● Sep. 12, 2026
Or that the upper triple-A-rated floor of some subprime mortgage bond would outperform the lower, triple-B-rated, floor.
From "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis
Kimi 3 boasts 2.8 trillion parameters and, according to industry experts, outperforms all other models with the exception of Anthropic’s Fable and OpenAI’s ChatGPT 5.6.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 21, 2026
The company says its model outperforms some cutting-edge U.S. systems, the latest sign that Chinese labs can rival American counterparts.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 17, 2026
In terms of attacking metrics for their clubs this season, Mbappe outperforms Haaland in shots, touches and chances created, although the City striker recorded more assists in 2025-26.
From BBC ● Jun. 26, 2026
Geiser said that the high school GPA outperforms the SAT in predicting first-year student success once income and race are controlled.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 11, 2026
The hybrid approach outperforms leading models that rely only on conventional computers.
From Science Daily ● Apr. 17, 2026
Diesel prices hit the real economy, says a Bank of America strategist who also offers an exchange-traded fund that has outperformed the market.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 11, 2026
But he was outperformed citywide, leaving Palisades voters with a choice some liken to picking the lesser of two evils: Mayor Karen Bass or Councilmember Nithya Raman.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 9, 2026
Medtronic, McCormick and T. Rowe Price are among the stocks that have outperformed the S&P 500 over the past three months—and have dividend yields of at least 3%.
From Barron's ● Sep. 2, 2026
“The Last House” and “The Whisper Man” have both outperformed “Don’t Say Good Luck,” with “The Whisper Man” clobbering both in the number of hours viewed after just a few days on the streamer.
From Salon ● Sep. 2, 2026
Sponsored by Kagen, the resolution recognized the accomplishments of the 13 women who outshined and outperformed their male counterparts—but were never allowed to fly into space.
From "Women in Space" by Karen Bush Gibson
Despite outperforming other fast food chains and posting impressive same-store sales, the Mexican-inspired chain Taco Bell has taken a hit after being linked to Cyclospora.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 12, 2026
Asia credit as a whole enters 2H on solid footing after outperforming broader fixed-income markets in 1H, with carry likely to be the dominant driver of returns in a higher-for-longer rates environment.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 3, 2026
They navigated mazes and remembered previously encountered objects almost as effectively as younger mice, while outperforming similarly aged mice whose EP2 receptors continued functioning normally.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 3, 2026
For example, a popular exchange-traded fund that aims to equally weight seven closely watched Big Tech stocks held in its portfolio was outperforming the S&P 500’s 3% gain this month through Friday.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 29, 2026
“She’s just never got over you outperforming her in Potions,” said Ron, returning to his copy of One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi.
From "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" by J.K. Rowling
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
