- (of an expression or statement) performing an act by the very fact of being uttered, as with the expression “I promise,” that performs the act of promising.
- relating to the performance of behaviors associated with a particular social role or identity: He reflects on his mother's performative femininity, remembering the times he witnessed her adorning herself with eyeshadow, bracelets, and belts.
- relating to ways of behaving that exhibit a socially acceptable belief, trait, or quality, often making a superficial impression: Performative wokeness enables privileged people to reap the social benefits of wokeness without actually undertaking the necessary legwork to combat inequality.
- a performative utterance.
- denoting an utterance that constitutes some act, esp the act described by the verb. For example, I confess that I was there is itself a confession, and so is performative in the narrower sense, while I'd like you to meet … (effecting an introduction) is performative only in the looser sense
- (as noun)
- denoting a verb that may be used as the main verb in such an utterance
- (as noun)
