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 Coachella music festival has kicked off with surprise guest actor Susan Sarandon featuring in pop star Sabrina Carpenter's headlining performance on Friday.

From BBC • Apr. 11, 2026

So we asked workplace performance expert Henna Pryor how workers can go about making sure they have more of the intangibles that could be required to stand out in the AI era.

From MarketWatch • Apr. 11, 2026

Unlike a debt-focused fund, where the upside is capped, a private-equity manager can manufacture home-run performance on paper by marking up ownership stakes in closely held companies or other private-equity funds.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 11, 2026

James has been a force over the last three games, with his latest standout performance coming Friday night in the Lakers’ 101-73 win over the Phoenix Suns at Crypto.com Arena.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 11, 2026

I’m nervous about my performance, sure, but that’s only a small part of it.

From "Linked" by Gordon Korman

Related Words

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