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Synonyms

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.


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

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

  • misperformance noun
  • reperformance noun

Etymology

Origin of performance

First recorded in 1485–95; perform + -ance

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.

“All the teammates I had, all the guys that I’ve coached that have a high care factor, every loss, every poor performance stings the same,” Redick said.

From Los Angeles Times

Others fear a lackluster initial public offering market could continue to sap fund performance.

From The Wall Street Journal

Each robot on the ground required constant monitoring from several engineers: one in a suit teleoperating its movements, one with a laptop, and others standing nearby to keep track of the bot’s physical performance.

From The Wall Street Journal

The Renaissance IPO index, which tracks the performance of recently listed stocks, rose 5% this year as of Dec. 18.

From The Wall Street Journal

Joseph soon joined Smith and crew for a performance in Las Vegas, the lawsuit says — on March 20 at the House of Blues at Mandalay Bay — with Smith’s team booking rooms for everyone involved.

From Los Angeles Times