Synonyms

perform

American

[per-fawrm] / pərˈfɔrm /

verb (used with object)

to carry out; execute; do.

to perform miracles.
to go through or execute in the proper, customary, or established manner.

to perform the marriage ceremony.
to carry into effect; fulfill.

Perform what you promise.

Synonyms:

effect, achieve, accomplish
to enact (a play, part, etc.), as on the stage, in movies, or on television.
to render (music), as by playing or singing.
to accomplish (any action involving skill or ability), as before an audience.

to perform a juggling act.
to complete.
to exhibit behaviors associated with (a particular social role or identity).

This study investigates the ways in which biracial Americans perform race in their day-to-day lives.
to behave in ways that exhibit (a socially acceptable belief, trait, or quality), often merely for show.

Nineteenth-century British women found in the antislavery movement a perfect way to perform empathy.

verb (used without object)

to fulfill a command, promise, or undertaking.
to execute or do something.
to act in a play.

to perform in the role of Romeo.
to perform music.
to go through any performance.
(of loans, investments, etc.) to yield a profit; earn income.
to have sexual intercourse.

I could not perform in my first intimate encounter with the love of my life.

perform British

/ pəˈfɔːm /

verb

to carry out or do (an action)
(tr) to fulfil or comply with

to perform someone's request
to present or enact (a play, concert, etc) before or otherwise entertain an audience

the group performed Hamlet
informal (intr) to accomplish sexual intercourse

he performed well

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Synonym Usage

Perform, discharge, execute, transact mean to carry to completion a prescribed course of action. Perform is the general word, often applied to ordinary activity as a more formal expression than do, but usually implying regular, methodical, or prolonged application or work: to perform an exacting task. Discharge implies carrying out an obligation, often a formal or legal one: to discharge one's duties as a citizen. Execute means either to carry out an order or to carry through a plan or program: to execute a maneuver. Transact, meaning to conduct or manage, has commercial connotations: to transact business.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

Inflected Forms

Participles

Conjugated Forms

Present

Past

Future

Etymology

Origin of perform

First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English parformen, from Anglo-French parformer, alteration (by association with forme form ) of Middle French, Old French parfournir “to accomplish”; see per-, furnish

Explanation

To perform most often means to sing, dance act or put on any kind of show. Perform also means, however, to carry out almost any function or action — to do something, in other words. Parents love to watch their kids perform. Nothing delights mommy or daddy more than watching junior sing or dance in the school play. Later in life, though, they'll be happy when their kids perform acts of kindness or when they perform the duties required of them by their jobs. "The surgeon entertained the other doctors when he performed an aria from Rigoletto while he performed an appendectomy." Now that's impressive.

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Vocabulary lists containing perform

Jim Burke's Academic Vocabulary List

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TEKS ELAR Academic Vocabulary List (5th-7th grades)

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"Julius Caesar" by William Shakespeare, Act I

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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:

perform performs performed performing

And F-35s are able to perform all of their missions only a quarter of the time.

From Salon ● Aug. 20, 2026

"The first time I saw Angélique perform live, I thought her music, her dancing, her commitment were incredible."

From BBC ● Aug. 19, 2026

"Treating the light classically makes it much easier to define which part of the energy can be used to perform work and which part is disordered heat," says Janovitch.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 19, 2026

The ruling did not spell out what duties a first assistant U.S. attorney can or cannot lawfully perform.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 19, 2026

Yet the big Wall Street banks at the center of it just kept on growing, along with the sums of money that they doled out to twenty-six-year-olds to perform tasks of no obvious social utility.

From "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis

Outside, Alicante performs the same trick on a larger scale.

From Salon ● Aug. 11, 2026

The researchers caution that larger prospective trials are still needed to determine how well MethylScan performs in real-world screening.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 11, 2026

It’s that my body sometimes performs similar, involuntarily reactions in both cases.

From Slate ● Aug. 10, 2026

“We’re not asking for the moon,” said Courtney Griffith, a 28-year-old who performs at Disney parades and shows, including “Fantasmic!”

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 5, 2026

In 1925, Dr. Henry Souttar performs a successful heart operation on a young girl and saves her life.

From "A Heart in a Body in the World" by Deb Caletti

The study, published in the journal Nature, said the organoids "recorded the passage of time and retain a memory of the developmental steps already performed".

From Barron's ● Aug. 19, 2026

Essentials for a successful claim include geostamped, time-stamped and annotated “before, during and after” repair photos documenting damage, work performed, and completion, it adds.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 18, 2026

While the hearing-implant maker’s FY 2026 revenue was broadly in line with consensus, Wong-Pan points out that the Australian company’s implants and services units both performed more strongly than analysts had expected.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 18, 2026

On Thursday night, eight jazz artists and groups performed a pop-up show, including Okay Coleman!, the Don Brown Collective, Joy Guerilla, and Genghis Don, who also organized the event.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 18, 2026

Tending to the dead was an act of ultimate kindness, and such things were meant to be performed in silence, for an audience who would never acknowledge it.

From "The City Beautiful" by Aden Polydoros

There have also been concerns about the use of leverage by South Korean investors chasing bigger gains in the country’s strongly performing stock market.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 19, 2026

Unitree had previously drawn significant attention during China's annual Spring Festival gala performance, with its dexterous robots, wearing traditional Chinese vests, seen performing Kung Fu and jumping over tables.

From Barron's ● Aug. 19, 2026

Online videos have shown Unitree robots performing back flips and cartwheels.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 19, 2026

Angie Monroy, a Mexican American musician hailing from Santa Ana, is performing Sunday evening with her romantic rock ‘n’ roll group, The McCharmlys.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 18, 2026

While they are performing their pattern, they are simultaneously listening and memorizing the new pattern.

From "Music and the Child" by Natalie Sarrazin

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023