PERFORMER

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does performer mean? 

• PERFORMER (noun)
  The noun PERFORMER has 1 sense:

1. an entertainer who performs a dramatic or musical work for an audience

  Familiarity information: PERFORMER used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• PERFORMER (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

An entertainer who performs a dramatic or musical work for an audience

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

performer; performing artist

Hypernyms ("performer" is a kind of...):

entertainer (a person who tries to please or amuse)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "performer"):

conjurer; conjuror; illusionist; magician; prestidigitator (someone who performs magic tricks to amuse an audience)

ventriloquist (a performer who projects the voice into a wooden dummy)

vaudevillian (a performer who works in vaudeville)

strongman (a man who performs feats of strength at a fair or circus)

ecdysiast; exotic dancer; peeler; stripper; striptease; striptease artist; stripteaser (a performer who provides erotic entertainment by undressing to music)

second banana; straight man (a performer who acts as stooge to a comedian)

snake charmer (a performer who uses movements and music to control snakes)

sightreader (a performer who reads without preparation or prior acquaintance (as in music))

Savoyard (a person who performs in the operettas of Gilbert and Sullivan)

puppeteer (one who operates puppets or marionettes)

instrumentalist; musician; player (someone who plays a musical instrument (as a profession))

monologist (an entertainer who performs alone)

minstrel (a performer in a minstrel show)

actor; histrion; player; role player; thespian (a theatrical performer)

juggler (a performer who juggles objects and performs tricks of manual dexterity)

headliner; star (a performer who receives prominent billing)

geek (a carnival performer who does disgusting acts)

fire walker (someone who walks barefoot on burning coals)

fire-eater; fire-swallower (a performer who pretends to swallow fire)

executant (a performer (usually of musical works))

dancer; professional dancer; terpsichorean (a performer who dances professionally)

cowboy; rodeo rider (a performer who gives exhibitions of riding and roping and bulldogging)

comedian; comic (a professional performer who tells jokes and performs comical acts)

baton twirler; twirler (someone who twirls a baton)

artiste (a public performer (a dancer or singer))

Derivation:

perform (give a performance (of something))

 Context examples 

Upon these occasions, a lady's character generally precedes her; and Highbury has long known that you are a superior performer.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

The date and time span for when the performer is active.

(Performer Effective Date Range, NCI Thesaurus)

They kept six of the Indians up for to-day—that's how I understood it—but I fancy we were to be the star performers in the show.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

A unique symbol that establishes identity of the performer.

(Performer Identifier, NCI Thesaurus)

A coded value specifying the kind of performer.

(Performer Type Code, NCI Thesaurus)

Anne would have been a delightful performer, had her health allowed her to learn.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

A contact point used to send physical forms of communication to the performer.

(Performer Postal Address, NCI Thesaurus)

My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

A sufficient interval having elapsed for the performers to resume their ordinary costume, they re-entered the dining-room.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

We bespeak your indulgence, you understand, as young performers; we bespeak your indulgence.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)