What does performative mean?
A performative action or statement is chiefly one designed for effect: it presents a carefully staged impression to an audience, often without any necessary practical purpose. Calling an apology, protest, or display of emotion performative generally suggests that it is calculated to shape opinion or appear admirable rather than arise from genuine feeling. The word can also relate neutrally to performance and performing arts. In philosophy and linguistics, a performative utterance is a statement that performs an action through being spoken, as when someone declares, promises, or names. This technical sense has shaped modern ideas of performativity, which examine how language and social behavior can constitute realities rather than merely describe them. For general readers, however, the word is most often an evaluative label for conduct that appears theatrical, exaggerated, or contrived.
Characterized by theatricality, exaggeration, or a calculated effort to impress an audience; relating to performance in general.
"The ceremony included several colorful but largely performative gestures."
In everyday use, the adjective often implies that the displayed emotion or action is not sincere.
An act or production intended to display, entertain, or impress an audience; in speech-act theory, an utterance that performs an action when said.
"The event was conceived as a celebration rather than a solemn performative."
The linguistic sense is technical; the general theatrical sense can carry a critical implication of showmanship.
The plural is used for individual theatrical displays or acts and, in specialized writing, for categories of performative utterances.
"The essay compares promises and declarations as political performatives."
Calling a speech performative can mean that the very act of saying it makes it happen.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does performative come from?
English performative was formed from perform with the suffix -ative, a productive element found in many Latin-derived English words. Early uses associated the word with theatrical performance and rhetorical display. In modern philosophy and linguistics, it came to denote utterances that carry out an action when performed, a development closely associated with speech-act theory.
Related word forms
How performative is actually used
In everyday criticism, performative usually carries a negative connotation of theatricality or insincerity. In academic discussions of language and performativity, it is a technical term and need not imply deception. British and American pronunciation differs chiefly in the treatment of the r and the length of the vowel in the first syllable.
Easily confused with performative
A performance is the act of performing; performative describes something theatrical, ostentatious, or, in linguistics, capable of performing an action through being said.