perform
Formsperforms, performing, performed
- 1To do or carry out a particular task, action, or piece of work.
Surgeons perform delicate operations that can last many hours.
The technician performed a full inspection of the machinery.
UsageTypical objects are procedures: perform an operation, perform a test, perform a task. For simple everyday jobs, do sounds more natural.
Similarconduct, execute, undertake, do, complete
Note
The everyday sense, and the one nearest the word's origin. Old French parfornir meant "to complete, accomplish," from par- and fornir, "to furnish." That idea of carrying something through to the end still shows in its usual objects: experiments, tasks, operations and inspections.
- 2To present an act such as acting or music in front of an audience, often to entertain them.
The orchestra will perform a new symphony on opening night.
He performed a stand-up routine to a packed comedy club.
UsageWith or without an object: perform a song, perform in a play, perform at a festival, perform for an audience.
Note
The object can be a role as well as a work, as in Shakespeare's Coriolanus: "Perform a part thou hast not done before." The word also invites a verdict on quality, so a magician whose tricks all fail has performed badly.
- 3To function or work in a particular way, especially as judged by how well or badly something operates.
The investment performed better than analysts had predicted.
Older laptops still perform adequately for basic office tasks.
UsageMost often with a word saying how well: perform well, perform badly, perform better than expected.
Less common meanings
- 4To do what a contract or agreement requires; to fulfill its terms.
The supplier failed to perform the contract within the agreed period.
Each party performed its obligations under the lease.
Note
Contract law makes the agreement itself the object. A party performs a contract, or performs its obligations, much as one performs a task. Completeness and timing are the tests, since failing to perform a contract on time may amount to a breach. In legal writing, perform is the positive counterpart of breach.
Checked 6 Nov 2026 · 1 fact
- Failing to perform a contract on time may constitute a breach. nycourts.gov
- 5To behave theatrically in order to give the impression of a feeling or trait you may not actually have; to feign.
He performed outrage for the cameras while privately staying indifferent.
Job candidates sometimes perform enthusiasm they do not really feel.
UsageIts object is a feeling or quality: perform outrage, perform enthusiasm, often for onlookers (for the cameras).
Similarfeign, fake, affect, simulate
Note
Stage behavior carried offstage, where the audience is real but the feeling may not be. David Edgerton's 2021 jibe about Brexit even has sovereignty "performed." This sense implies insincerity in a way the social-science sense does not: to perform remorse suggests the remorse is only a show.
- 6To act out a social role, identity, or idea through everyday behavior, in a way that carries meaning and helps shape it.
Individuals perform gender through everyday gestures, dress, and speech.
She performed femininity in ways shaped by the culture around her.
Note
A social-science term in which performing a role is how the role comes to exist, rather than a pretense laid over a true self. Its typical objects are identities and positions: masculinity, gender, authority, Britishness. When Sophie Gilbert wrote in 2022 that the Queen "performed Britishness," she meant that the monarch embodied it and helped define it, with no suggestion of faking.
Checked 6 Nov 2026 · 1 fact
- Sophie Gilbert wrote in 2022 that Queen Elizabeth II "performed Britishness." theatlantic.com
- 7Of a man, to be able to begin or complete an act of sexual intercourse.
Anxiety left him unable to perform on their wedding night.
Certain medications can affect a man's ability to perform.
UsageMost often with ability or a negative: unable to perform, able to perform, pressure to perform.
Note
A narrowing of the "function" meaning: the body is expected to work, and does or does not. It takes no object: a man is able or unable to perform, and the act itself goes unnamed. That reticence is what makes the word useful in clinical writing and plain conversation alike, because it lets speakers discuss sexual capability without explicit terms.
Practice
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Origin
From Middle English parformen, from Anglo-Norman performer, an alteration of Old French parfornir ("to complete, accomplish, perform"), formed from par- plus fornir ("to accomplish, furnish"). This traces back through Frankish and Proto-Germanic to a root meaning "to further, promote," and is cognate with Old English fremman. In modern times it is instead associated with Latin formō, read as per- plus form.
Checked 6 Nov 2026 · 6 facts
- Perform derives from Middle English parformen through Anglo-Norman performer. en.wiktionary.org
- The Anglo-Norman form is an alteration of Old French parfornir, meaning to complete, accomplish or perform. en.wiktionary.org
- The Old French word combines par- and fornir, meaning to accomplish or furnish. en.wiktionary.org
- The verbal root traces through Frankish to Proto-Germanic with the meaning to further or promote. en.wiktionary.org
- The Germanic root is cognate with Old English fremman. en.wiktionary.org
- The modern association is with Latin formō and an analysis as per- plus form. en.wiktionary.org