performance
Americannoun
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performances
plural
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a musical, dramatic, or other entertainment presented before an audience.
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the act of performing a ceremony, play, piece of music, etc.
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the execution or accomplishment of work, acts, feats, etc.
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a particular action, deed, or proceeding.
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an action or proceeding of an unusual or spectacular kind.
His temper tantrum was quite a performance.
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the act of performing.
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the manner in which or the efficiency with which something reacts or fulfills its intended purpose.
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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.
noun
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the act, process, or art of performing
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an artistic or dramatic production
last night's performance was terrible
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manner or quality of functioning
a machine's performance
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informal mode of conduct or behaviour, esp when distasteful or irregular
what did you mean by that performance at the restaurant?
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informal any tiresome procedure
what a performance dressing the children to play in the snow!
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any accomplishment
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linguistics (in transformational grammar) the form of the human language faculty, viewed as concretely embodied in speakers Compare competence langue parole
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of performance
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.
Vocabulary lists containing performance
Academy Awards, List 6
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myPerspectives 8.3
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"Principles of Business," Vocabulary from Chapter 6
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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:
Stafford’s workload during training camp and preseason practices were managed by the sports performance staff, but he had plenty of opportunity to connect with Adams, a luxury they did not enjoy last season.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 10, 2026
"Consistency, top performance, show your experience. Show you're a top international. This club will reward you."
From BBC ● Sep. 9, 2026
It’s also unclear how many investors lost money, although some users complained about the token’s performance on Reddit and Pump.fun.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 9, 2026
Between 1960, the year Coltrane began establishing himself as a leader, and 1964, when Tiberi recorded Coltrane in live performance, the legendary saxophonist was at the height of his powers.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 9, 2026
Almost everyone regarded his retirement of 1796 as a repeat performance of his resignation as commander of the Continental Army in 1783.
From "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation" by Joseph J. Ellis
And its worst performances have been less bad than the worst performances of the straight stock-and-bond fund.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 9, 2026
There is an irony, then, that Palmer, Rogers and Chelsea's other established stars may have secured future opportunities for the very fringe players whose performances had put the club's EFL Cup campaign at risk.
From BBC ● Sep. 9, 2026
"I'm not going to sit here and have comparisons thrown against those two, I don't think that's fair whatsoever. They deserve a lot of credit for the last two performances."
From BBC ● Sep. 8, 2026
The work—for orchestra, chorus, children’s chorus and prerecorded tape—was commissioned by the Philharmonic to commemorate the first anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, with the inaugural performances led by Lorin Maazel.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 8, 2026
Even if she got rich and famous and did command performances for Edward VII, like she said she would, she couldn’t ever live down the taint.
From "Cold Sassy Tree" by Olive Ann Burns
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.
