performance
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See also: Performance and perfórmance
English
Alternative forms
- performaunce (obsolete)
Etymology
From Middle English parfourmaunce; equivalent to perform + -ance.
Pronunciation
Noun
performance (countable and uncountable, plural performances)
- 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.
- 1959, Georgette Heyer, chapter 1, in The Unknown Ajax:
- 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.
- 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.
- (art) 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.
- 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.
- (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.
Usage notes
- Adjectives often applied to "performance": high, poor, improved, superior, excellent, good, peak, top, optimal, low, economic, academic, financial, musical, human, environmental, vocal, cognitive, dynamic, organizational, historical, physical, social, mechanical, electrical, mental, macroeconomic.
Hyponyms
Hyponyms of performance (arts)
Derived terms
- concert performance
- high-performance
- high-performance liquid chromatography
- key performance indicator
- low-performance
- performance anxiety
- performance arousal
- performance art
- performance artist
- performance bond
- performance-driven
- performance management
- performance metric
- performance poetry
- seismic performance
- specific performance
- street performance
Related terms
Descendants
- → Albanian: performancë
- → Catalan: performance
- → Danish: performance
- → French: performance
- → Turkish: performans
- → German: Performance
- → Italian: performance
- → Japanese: パフォーマンス (pafōmansu)
- → Portuguese: performance
- → Spanish: performance
- → Swedish: performance
Translations
the act of performing; carrying into execution or action; accomplishment
that which is performed or accomplished
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live show or concert
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amount of useful work accomplished
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
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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.
- “performance”, in The Century Dictionary , New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
Catalan
Etymology
Borrowed from English performance.
Pronunciation
Noun
performance f (plural performances)
- performance (a live show or concert)
References
Further reading
- “performance”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2024
French
Etymology
Pronunciation
Noun
performance f (plural performances)
Descendants
- → Turkish: performans
Further reading
- “performance”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé , 2012.
Italian
Etymology
Borrowed from English performance.
Pronunciation
Noun
performance f (invariable)
Synonyms
- (the act of performing) esecuzione
- (accomplishment) prestazione, rendimento
- (show) esibizione
References
- ^ performance in Luciano Canepari, Dizionario di Pronuncia Italiana (DiPI)
Further reading
- performance in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana
Portuguese
Alternative forms
Etymology
Unadapted borrowing from English performance.
Pronunciation
- Rhymes: -ɔʁmɐ̃si
- Hyphenation: per‧for‧man‧ce
Noun
performance f (plural performances)
- acting performance
- Synonyms: atuação, desempenho
- realization
- feat
- (art) performance (artistic manifestation based on staging that can combine dance, music, audiovisual media)
- (linguistics) performance (manifestation of a speaker's linguistic competence)
Further reading
- “performance” in Dicionário infopédia da Língua Portuguesa. Porto: Porto Editora, 2003–2024.
- “performance” in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa.
Spanish
Etymology
Unadapted borrowing from English performance.
Pronunciation
Noun
performance f (plural performances)
- performance art
- 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, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014