performance

[[t]pə(r)fɔ͟ː(r)məns[/t]]

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performances

1) N-COUNT A performance involves entertaining an audience by doing something such as singing, dancing, or acting.

Inside the theatre, they were giving a performance of Bizet's Carmen.

...her performance as the betrayed Medea...

The Festival Of Asian Arts & Music will include two days of live performances.

2) N-VAR: oft with poss Someone's or something's performance is how successful they are or how well they do something.

That study looked at the performance of 18 surgeons...

The poor performance has been blamed on the recession and cheaper sports car imports...

The job of the new director-general was to ensure that performance targets were met.

3) N-UNCOUNT A car's performance is its ability to go fast and to increase its speed quickly.

4) ADJ: ADJ n A performance car is one that can go very fast and can increase its speed very quickly.

→ See also high-performance

5) N-SING: usu the N of n The performance of a task is the fact or action of doing it.

He devoted in excess of seventy hours a week to the performance of his duties...

The people believe that the performance of this ritual is the will of the Great Spirit.

6) N-SING: usu a N You can describe something that is or looks complicated or difficult to do as a performance. [INFORMAL]

The whole process is quite a performance...

She made a big performance of sprinkling all the spices on.

7) a repeat performance → see repeat