perform

present singular third person performs · participle present performing · participle past performed · past performed · first person past singular performed · archaic present second person singular performest · past second person singular performed · archaic past second person singular performedst · present singular third person performs · archaic present singular third person performeth · past singular third person performed · past plural performed · past subjunctive performed · participle present performing · participle past performed · alternative performe

1. transitiveTo do (something); to execute.

   The scientists performed several experiments.

   2 more examples

   It took him only twenty minutes to perform the task.

   Turbines have been around for a long time—windmills and water wheels are early examples. The name comes from the Latin turbo, meaning vortex, and thus the defining property of a turbine is that a fluid or gas turns the blades of a rotor, which is attached to a shaft that can perform useful work.

   2013 July-August, Lee S. Langston, “The Adaptable Gas Turbine”, in American Scientist

2. intransitiveTo exhibit an expected pattern of behavior; to function; to work.

   The new employee performs well.

   1 more example

   I could care less how she perform when she in the bed

   2003, “P.I.M.P.”, in Get Rich or Die Tryin', performed by 50 Cent

   1. intransitiveuncommonlifestyleOf a man, to be able to initiate or fulfill an act of sexual intercourse.
3. To act in a way set forth in a contract.
   1. transitivelawTo act in accordance with (a contract); to fulfill one’s terms of (a contract).

      Failure to perform a contract on time may constitute a breach of contract.

   2. intransitivelawTo fulfill contractually agreed-to terms.

      They entered into an agreement and now they are obliged to perform.

4. ambitransitiveTo do (something) in front of an audience, such as acting or music, often in order to entertain.

   She will perform in the play.

   3 more examples

   The magician performed badly—none of his tricks worked.

   The string quartet performed three pieces by Haydn.

   Perform a part thou hast not done before.

   c. 1608–1609 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Coriolanus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii]

5. broadlytransitiveTo behave theatrically so as to give the impression of (a quality, character trait, etc.); to feign.

   The accused only performed remorse.

   1 more example

   As things now stand, Brexit is a pointless gesture, a politics of headlines in which sovereignty is performed by bleating world-beating absurdities.

   2021, David Edgerton, “The one good thing to come out of Brexit: a bonfire of national illusions”, in The Guardian

6. Of a social actor, to behave in certain ways.
   1. transitivehuman sciencesTo behave in accordance with, and thereby in turn shape, (a social notion or role).

      perform authority

      2 more examples

      perform masculinity

      Even before her seven decades as monarch began, she performed Britishness more intuitively than anyone ever had, or likely ever will again.

      2022 September 9, Sophie Gilbert, “No One Performed Britishness Better Than Her Majesty”, in The Atlantic

   2. intransitivehuman sciencesTo behave in ways that carry meaning in social contexts.

      Individuals in societies perform all the time.