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:
Former Heat executive Eric Amsler will be an assistant general manager and Keith D’Amelio will focus on integrated performance systems.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 19, 2026
Eva hopes to study performing arts after leaving school, which she believes could help develop the character and performance side of her wrestling.
From BBC ● Sep. 19, 2026
Earlier experiments found that the approach improved the performance of an aqueous fipronil treatment.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 19, 2026
In benchmark tests, it is impressive but in my day-to-day, it was hard to notice performance improvements over last year’s iPhone 17 Pro.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 19, 2026
Miss Mortimer seemed enthralled by the performance and approached the podium as soon as the applause died down, which, to be blunt, did not take very long.
From "The Interrupted Tale" by Maryrose Wood
Maybe I’m imagining things, but considering that the performances of both teams were equally awful, everyone is really blasting the Chargers while making lots of excuses for the Rams.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 19, 2026
"Sam played a pivotal role in getting us over the line, not only with that iconic goal at Grimsby but his performances leading up to that," said an AFC Wimbledon statement, external announcing his departue.
From BBC ● Sep. 18, 2026
Among his most indelible performances was “The Way You Look Tonight.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026
Mr. Dudamel led all three works with the sort of passion and drive his most fervent admirers find in all his performances, and others experience only occasionally.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 17, 2026
Over the next ten hours, they will watch performances by two other high school drama troupes, have dinner, sit through a two-hour musical, and attend a dance.
From "Drama High" by Michael Sokolove
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.
