Executant

//ɪɡˈzɛkjʊtənt// noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A person who executes a dance or piece of music; a performer.

    "[…] no composer or dramatic poet has ever pretended to be able to perform all the parts he writes for the singers, actors and players who are his executants."

  2. 2
    a performer (usually of musical works) wordnet
  3. 3
    A person who puts something into action, such as a plan or design.

    "Also of importance are the other theatricians - the costume designer and/or executant, the lighting designer and/or executant, the technical director, […]"

Example

More examples

"The hostess, who played no instrument, but doted upon all, was of opinion that an executant should 'aim at mirroring his own nature in his interpretation of a tone-poem'; whereupon another lady threw out remarks on 'subjective interpretation', confessing her preference for a method purely 'objective'."

Etymology

From French exécutant. By surface analysis, execute + -ant.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.