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

• 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

The operational performance exceeded its expectations and underlying profitability improved, with a positive trend in Asia continuing as it saw robust growth in India, South Korea and China.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 17, 2026

This makes A.I. detection inherently an arms race, so the performance of any given detector will likely fluctuate over time.

From Slate • Apr. 17, 2026

After a strong performance from freshman Tiana Sumanasekera, she didn’t stick the dismount and finished with 9.8250, the lowest score.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 16, 2026

They tested dasatinib, a drug that can briefly suppress cell activity, to see how controlled pauses might affect performance.

From Science Daily • Apr. 16, 2026

If it had been up to him, the demigod version of the Adams-Jefferson dialogue would have captured its essence and ultimate meaning as a staged performance for posterity.

From "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation" by Joseph J. Ellis

Related Words

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