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

"Now the focus has to be on availability and performance," Arteta said when asked about Havertz entering the last two years of his contract and how important they could be.

From BBC • May 1, 2026

Three original songs and a mesmerizing live performance from Lady Gaga!

From Salon • May 1, 2026

After March saw markets plummet amid the conflict with Iran, April brought a performance for the ages—but it remains worrying that the rally was against all odds.

From Barron's • May 1, 2026

Their return is typically tied to the performance of at least one stock or market index.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 1, 2026

“You may not have won the Stavros Prize, but your performance here in Paris has more than guaranteed MI6 will continue to fund Project Neverland for quite some time.”

From "City Spies" by James Ponti

Related Words

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