Performant
adj, noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 Someone who performs something, such as a ritual; a performer. obsolete, rare
"As my heart bears me full witness with what unalloyed satisfaction I should have seen this last duty in your hands or in D. Giddy's, so I feel myself permitted to avow the pain, yea, the sense of shame, with which I contemplate Dr. Stock as the performant."
- 1 Of or relating to performance.
"A ballet visibly stresses the performant function even though, traditionally, it also claims to communicate some meaning. In sports, the performant function dominates more openly; but, in a symbiotic relation, it derives much of its vitality from a grafted referential function that operates through cultural signs. [...] As a rule, however, the performant function, when it is supported by truly impressive circus performances, tends to monopolize the audience's attention."
- 2 Performing well; Capable of or characterized by a high or excellent level of performance or efficiency.
"The inhabitants commonly use pacing Naggs, singularly performant in travaille, and easily kept in good case."
- 3 Performing well; Capable of or characterized by a high or excellent level of performance or efficiency.; Characterized by a level of performance or efficiency that is adequate for or exceeds the expectations of end users.
"The program ALGOLOG is highly performant: it generated 259 linear subproblems, instead of 2²³."
Example
More examples"A ballet visibly stresses the performant function even though, traditionally, it also claims to communicate some meaning. In sports, the performant function dominates more openly; but, in a symbiotic relation, it derives much of its vitality from a grafted referential function that operates through cultural signs. [...] As a rule, however, the performant function, when it is supported by truly impressive circus performances, tends to monopolize the audience's attention."
Etymology
From perform + -ant (suffix forming agent nouns from verbs, and adjectives from verbs with the senses of ‘doing (the action of the verb’)), possibly modelled after informant.
More for "performant"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.