Meaning

(philosophy, linguistics) Being enacted as it is said..

Definitions by Sense

1. (philosophy, linguistics) Being enacted as it is said.
2. Insincere, inauthentic or disingenuous; done solely or largely as a performance, to produce an impression or enhance one's reputation.
3. A performative utterance.

Example Sentences

Saying "I do" as part of a wedding ceremony is performative, enacting a marriage.

Thus in the example: 'By saying “I do” I was marrying her', the performative 'I do' is a means to the end of marriage. Here 'saying' is used in the sense in which it takes inverted commas and is using words or language, a phatic and not[…]

We were beginning to suspect that her ethical qualms were sometimes performative, as the urgent need for fairness and justice seemed to apply to some people but not to others.

Although the seeming copycat nature of the plots in Port Huran and Conyers was terrifying because of their repetitive, performative, even texted nature—their seeming theatricality—more harrowing was the threat that, like theater, the performance would settle quickly into repetition compulsions in schools across the nation.

With the danger of science becoming purely “performative” (Lyotard 1984), not seeking any pretense of “truth” but simply performing a service for those in charge while still occupying its decision-making role in a technocratically dominated political sphere […]

The Harambe meme soon became the perfect parody of the sentimentality and absurd priorities of Western liberal performative politics and the online mass hysteria that often characterized it.

The reality of remote working has turned out to be different. Days have become longer and employees are demonstratively visible. Work has become more performative.

After the photos of Jenner and Elordi were published there was a stream of online discourse stating we had entered an era of performative reading.

Word Forms

• more performative
• most performative
• performatives

Synonyms for performative

Related Words

When Should You Use Performative?

Use performative when its meaning, tone and grammar fit the full sentence. A synonym is not always a direct replacement.

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