CS Knowledge Base

• performaunce (obsolete)

From Middle English parfourmaunce; equivalent to perform +‎ -ance.^[1]

• enPR: pər-fôrʹ-məns
  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): [pəˈfɔː.məns]
  • (General American, Canada) IPA^(key): [pɚˈfoɹ.məns]

    • Audio (California):

      (file)

  • (General Australian, New Zealand) IPA^(key): [pəˈfoː.məns]
• Hyphenation: per‧for‧mance

performance (countable and uncountable, plural performances)

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.

   • 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.

   • 1960 February, R. C. Riley, “The London-Birmingham services - Past, Present and Future”, in Trains Illustrated, page 98:

     The outstanding train on the L.M.S. route was the 6.20 p.m. from Birmingham, which reached Euston in two hours after intermediate stops at Coventry, Rugby and Watford Junction, and evoked some sparkling performances from "Patriot" and "Jubilee" 4-6-0s.

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.

   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. (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.

• performant

• “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 Eli Smith, editors (1895–1910), “performance”, in The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia: […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.

Borrowed from English performance.

• IPA^(key): /perˈfɔrməns/^[1]

performance f (plural performances)

1. performance (a live show or concert)

• “performance”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2026

Unadapted borrowing from English performance.

• IPA^(key): /pərˈfɔːrməns/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: per‧for‧mance

performance f or m (plural performances, no diminutive)

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

   De performance ‘I'm leaving this room’, waarbij Oenema, gezeten naast een overheadprojector, zingend haar knipsels liet zien, stond onder meer op het Crossing Border Festival en Noorderslag.

   The performance ‘I'm leaving this room’, in which Oenema, seated next to an overhead projector, sang and showed her clippings, was performed at the Crossing Border Festival and Noorderslag, among others.

4. performance (amount of useful work accomplished)

   Om maar eens een understatement te gebruiken: het is niet mijn beste performance geweest in de afgelopen jaren.

   To use an understatement: it was not my best performance in recent years.

Borrowed from English performance.

• IPA^(key): /pɛʁ.fɔʁ.mɑ̃s/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Audio (France (Lyon)):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɑ̃s
• Hyphenation: per‧for‧mance

performance f (plural performances)

1. (sports) performance

• → Turkish: performans

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

Borrowed from English performance.

• IPA^(key): /perˈfɔr.mans/^[1]
  • Rhymes: -ɔrmans
• IPA^(key): (proscribed) /ˈper.for.mans/
  • Rhymes: -erformans

performance f (invariable)

1. performance

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

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

• perfórmance (uncommon)

Unadapted borrowing from English performance.

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

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)

• “performance”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026
• “performance”, in Dicionário infopédia da Lingua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Porto: Porto Editora, 2003–2026
• “performance”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026

Unadapted borrowing from English performance.

• IPA^(key): /peɾˈfoɾmans/ [peɾˈfoɾ.mãns]
  • Rhymes: -oɾmans
• IPA^(key): (sometimes) /ˈpeɾfoɾmans/ [ˈpeɾ.foɾ.mãns]
  • Rhymes: -eɾfoɾmans
• IPA^(key): /peɾfoɾˈmanθe/ [peɾ.foɾˈmãn̟.θe] (Equatorial Guinea, Spain)
• IPA^(key): /peɾfoɾˈmanse/ [peɾ.foɾˈmãn.se] (Latin America, Philippines)
  • Rhymes: -anθe (Equatorial Guinea, Spain)
  • Rhymes: -anse (Latin America, Philippines)
  • Syllabification: per‧for‧man‧ce

performance m or f same meaning (plural performances)

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

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.

• “performance”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025
• “performance”, in Diccionario de americanismos [Dictionary of Americanisms] (in Spanish), Association of Academies of the Spanish Language [Spanish: Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española], 2010
• “performance”, in Diccionario panhispánico de dudas [Panhispanic Dictionary of Uncertainties] (in Spanish), 2nd edition, Royal Spanish Academy; Association of Academies of the Spanish Language, 2023, →ISBN
• Diccionario de anglicismos del español estadounidense