performance

The act of performing; carrying into execution or action; execution; achievement; accomplishment; representation by action.

Noun

  1. The act of performing; carrying into execution or action; execution; achievement; accomplishment; representation by action.
    • the performance of an undertaking or a duty
    • Though the result wasn't what we were hoping for, I have to commend the performance of the team, never giving up until the end.
    • Charles had not been employed above six months at Darracott Place, but he was not such a whopstraw as to make the least noise in the performance of his duties when his lordship was out of humour. - 1959, Georgette...
  2. That which is performed or accomplished; a thing done or carried through; an achievement; a deed; an act; a feat; especially, an action of an elaborate or public character.
  3. A live show or concert.
    • The band played a mix of old and new songs during their 90-minute performance.
    • We saw the whole ballet performance from the front row.
  4. The amount of useful work accomplished estimated in terms of time needed, resources used, etc.
    • Better performance means more work accomplished in shorter time and/or using fewer resources.
  5. The actual use of language in concrete situations by native speakers of a language, as opposed to the system of linguistic knowledge they possess (competence), cf. linguistic performance.

Origin

From Middle English parfourmaunce; equivalent to perform + -ance.

Forms

performances performaunce

Hyponyms

command performance concert movie play show

Related

performant preformance preform

Derived

antiperformance autoperformance concert performance coperformance cyberformance cyberperformance high-performance high-performance liquid chromatography informance isoperformance key performance indicator low-performance midperformance misperformance multiperformance nonperformance outperformance overperformance performance anxiety performance arousal performance art performance artist performance bond performance-driven