underperform

American

[uhn-der-per-fawrm] / ˌʌn dər pərˈfɔrm /

verb (used with or without object)

to perform less well than (another of its kind, a general average, etc.) or less well than expected.

Surprisingly, the stock has underperformed the market indexes all year. Several of our best players consistently underperform.

Other Word Forms

underperformance noun

Etymology

Origin of underperform

under- + perform

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.

Credit-research company CreditSights reiterated its underperform rating on Meta’s bonds on Thursday, saying that the price of Meta’s bonds might drop because the company is flooding the market with debt.

From MarketWatch • Apr. 30, 2026

Beach this week provided the additional detail on those deals, which pleases Macquarie, even though it retains an underperform call on the Australian company’s stock.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 29, 2026

It retains an underperform call on Fortescue, and cuts its price target by 5.7% to A$16.50/share.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 27, 2026

That’s the first time since the fourth quarter of 2022, just before the full scale advance of OpenAI’s ChatGPT, that the group is expected to underperform the market.

From Barron's • Apr. 27, 2026

They would bet, for instance, that bonds with large numbers of loans made in California would underperform bonds with very little of California in them.

From "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis

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