performance

English Online Dictionary. What means performance‎? What does performance mean?

English

Alternative forms

• performaunce (obsolete)

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• enPR: pər-fôrʹ-məns
  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): [pəˈfɔː.məns]
  • (General American, Canada) IPA^(key): [pɚˈfɔɹ.məns]
  • (General Australian) IPA^(key): [pəˈfoː.məns]
• Hyphenation: per‧for‧mance

Noun

performance (countable and uncountable, plural performances)

1. The act of performing; carrying into execution or action; execution; achievement; accomplishment; representation by action.
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. (art) A live show or concert.

4. The amount of useful work accomplished estimated in terms of time needed, resources used, etc.

5. (linguistics) 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.

Hyponyms

Derived terms

Related terms

• performant

Collocations

Descendants

Translations

References

• “performance”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• performance in Keywords for Today: A 21st Century Vocabulary, edited by The Keywords Project, Colin MacCabe, Holly Yanacek, 2018.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “performance”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.

Catalan

Etymology

Borrowed from English performance.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /perˈfɔrməns/

Noun

performance f (plural performances)

1. performance (a live show or concert)

References

Further reading

• “performance”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2025

Dutch

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English performance.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pərˈfɔːrməns/
• Hyphenation: per‧for‧mance

Noun

performance f or m (plural performances)

1. performance (act of performing)
2. performance (that which is performed or accomplished)
3. performance (live show)

4. performance (amount of useful work accomplished)

French

Etymology

Borrowed from English performance.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pɛʁ.fɔʁ.mɑ̃s/
• Rhymes: -ɑ̃s
• Hyphenation: per‧for‧mance

Noun

performance f (plural performances)

1. (sports) performance

Descendants

• → Turkish: performans

Further reading

• “performance”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Italian

Etymology

Borrowed from English performance.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /perˈfɔr.mans/
  • Rhymes: -ɔrmans
• IPA^(key): (proscribed) /ˈper.for.mans/
  • Rhymes: -erformans

Noun

performance f (invariable)

1. performance

Synonyms

• (the act of performing) esecuzione
• (accomplishment) prestazione, rendimento
• (show) esibizione

References

Further reading

• performance in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana

Portuguese

Alternative forms

• perfórmance (uncommon)

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English performance.

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -ɔʁmɐ̃si
• Hyphenation: per‧for‧man‧ce

Noun

performance f (plural performances)

1. acting performance

   Synonyms: atuação, desempenho

2. realization
3. feat
4. (art) performance (artistic manifestation based on staging that can combine dance, music, audiovisual media)
5. (linguistics) performance (manifestation of a speaker's linguistic competence)

Further reading

• “performance”, in Dicionário infopédia da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Porto: Porto Editora, 2003–2025
• “performance”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2025

Spanish

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English performance.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /peɾˈfoɾmans/ [peɾˈfoɾ.mãns]
  • Rhymes: -oɾmans
• IPA^(key): (sometimes) /ˈpeɾfoɾmans/ [ˈpeɾ.foɾ.mãns]
  • Rhymes: -eɾfoɾmans

Noun

performance m or f same meaning (plural performances)

1. performance art
2. performance (amount of useful work accomplished)

Usage notes

According to Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) prescriptions, unadapted foreign words should be written in italics in a text printed in roman type, and vice versa, and in quotation marks in a manuscript text or when italics are not available. In practice, this RAE prescription is not always followed.

Further reading

• “performance”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10
• performance | Diccionario de americanismos | ASALE
• Diccionario de anglicismos del español estadounidense