PERFORM

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does perform mean? 

• PERFORM (verb)
  The verb PERFORM has 4 senses:

1. carry out or perform an action

2. perform a function

3. give a performance (of something)

4. get (something) done

  Familiarity information: PERFORM used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• PERFORM (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they perform    ... he / she / it performs   
Past simple: performed   
Past participle: performed   
-ing form: performing   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Carry out or perform an action

Classified under:

Verbs of sewing, baking, painting, performing

Synonyms:

do; execute; perform

Context example:

she did a little dance

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "perform"):

carry (sing or play against other voices or parts)

click off (perform or finish an action rapidly)

make (perform or carry out)

conduct; direct; lead (lead, as in the performance of a composition)

interpret; render (give an interpretation or rendition of)

ad-lib; extemporise; extemporize; improvise; improvize (perform without preparation)

practice; practise; rehearse (engage in a rehearsal (of))

appear (appear as a character on stage or appear in a play, etc.)

star (be the star in a performance)

premier; premiere (perform a work for the first time)

scamp (perform hastily and carelessly)

blaze away (perform (an acting passage) brilliantly and rapidly)

cut (perform or carry out)

stunt (perform a stunt or stunts)

cut corners (do something the cheapest or easiest way)

serenade (sing and play for somebody)

declaim; recite (recite in elocution)

pipe up (begin to play or sing)

churn out (perform in a mechanical way)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

performance (the act of performing; of doing something successfully; using knowledge as distinguished from merely possessing it)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Perform a function

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Context example:

Who will perform the wedding?

Hypernyms (to "perform" is one way to...):

act; move (perform an action, or work out or perform (an action))

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "perform"):

church (perform a special church rite or service for)

officiate (act in an official capacity in a ceremony or religious ritual, such as a wedding)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s something

Sense 3

Meaning:

Give a performance (of something)

Classified under:

Verbs of sewing, baking, painting, performing

Context example:

We performed a popular Gilbert and Sullivan opera

Hypernyms (to "perform" is one way to...):

re-create (create anew)

Domain category:

performing arts (arts or skills that require public performance)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "perform"):

give (perform for an audience)

concertise; concertize (give concerts; perform in concerts)

play (perform on a certain location)

debut (make one's debut)

audition; try out (perform in order to get a role)

grandstand (perform ostentatiously in order to impress the audience and with an eye to the applause)

act; play; playact; roleplay (perform on a stage or theater)

play (play on an instrument)

conduct (lead musicians in the performance of)

rap (perform rap music)

sight-read; sightread (perform music from a score without having seen the score before)

underperform (perform too rarely)

play out (perform or be performed to the end)

solo (perform a piece written for a single instrument)

interlude (perform an interlude)

barnstorm (appear at county fairs and carnivals as a stunt flier and parachute jumper)

barnstorm (tour the country making political speeches, giving lectures, or presenting plays)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s PP

Sentence example:

Did he perform his major works over a short period of time?

Derivation:

performance (a dramatic or musical entertainment)

performer (an entertainer who performs a dramatic or musical work for an audience)

performing (the performance of a part or role in a drama)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Get (something) done

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Synonyms:

do; perform

Context example:

I did my job

Hypernyms (to "perform" is one way to...):

accomplish; action; carry out; carry through; execute; fulfil; fulfill (put in effect)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "perform"):

overachieve (perform better or achieve a greater degree of success than expected)

turn (accomplish by rotating)

underachieve; underperform (perform less well or with less success than expected)

misdo (do wrongly or improperly)

do one's best; give full measure; give one's best; go all out (perform a task as well as possible)

ply (apply oneself diligently)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody

 Context examples 

Sites that perform testing of the characteristics and attributes of active pharmaceutical ingredients or finished dosage forms.

(API/FDF Analytical Testing Site, NCI Thesaurus)

Mice performed better on memory tests when MCH neurons were turned off during REM sleep.

(The brain may actively forget during dream sleep, National Institutes of Health)

A group of body parts that work together to perform a given function.

(Apparatus, NCI Thesaurus)

I had often read of some great services done to princes and states, and desired to see the persons by whom those services were performed.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

Yet it is upon feeling, more often than thinking, that animals act; and every act White Fang now performed was based upon the feeling that the white men were the superior gods.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

"Studying natural systems, like these warblers, gives us clues to the variety of functions a single gene can perform."

(New insights into genetic basis of bird migration, National Science Foundation)

The first act of business Miss Murdstone performed when the day of the solemnity was over, and light was freely admitted into the house, was to give Peggotty a month's warning.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

"Two machines designed to perform the same function will not be the same," Saif said.

(Researchers build microscopic biohybrid robots propelled by muscles, nerves, National Science Foundation)

For my own part I performed my usual role of bringing things down to a strictly prosaic and practical level by the remark that one of the Indians was missing.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

A response indicating that an individual has or had no problems with performing their usual activities.

(No Problems Performing Usual Activities, NCI Thesaurus)