Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Performer |
PerformerNoun1. An entertainer who performs a dramatic or musical work for an audience. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "performer" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1550. (references) |
| Domain | Definitions |
Computing | Application entity that performs a remote operation invoked by the other application entity. Source: European Union. (references) |
Fine Arts | One who takes part in a public entertainment. Source: European Union. (references) |
| One who performs anything; particularly, one who takes part in a public entertainment or exhibition; as a good -on the violin; a celebrated -- in comedy or tragedy. Source: European Union. (references) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
Synonym: PerformerSynonym: performing artist (n). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Affectation | Affector, performer, actor; pedant, pedagogue, doctrinaire, purist, euphuist, mannerist; grimacier; lump of affectation, precieuse ridicule, bas bleu, blue stocking, poetaster; prig; charlatan; (deceiver); petit maitre; (fop); flatterer; coquette, prude, puritan. |
Agent | Noun: doer, actor, agent, performer, perpetrator, operator; executor, executrix; practitioner, worker, stager. |
The Drama | Actor, thespian, player; method actor; stage player, strolling player; stager, performer; mime, mimer; artists; comedian, tragedian; tragedienne, Roscius; star, movie star, star of stage and screen, superstar, idol, sex symbol; supporting actor, supporting cast; ham, hamfatter; masker. pantomimist, clown harlequin, buffo, buffoon, farceur, grimacer, pantaloon, columbine; punchinello; pulcinello, pulcinella; extra, bit-player, walk-on role, cameo appearance; mute, figurante, general utility; super, supernumerary. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
| Domain | Usage | |
Movie/TV Titles | The Circus Performer Dud (1919) Langton Performer 2nd (1899) Gymnastics - Indian Club Performer (1897) Performer of the Year (1994) Wet Performer (1993) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title | ||
Books |
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Music |
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High Tech |
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
 | An experienced performer : Ring-master Platt--Now Chauncey, have you ever had any experience with an elephant before, sir? Clown-- No, sir, but I had a great deal of experience with a mule once.Credit: Library of Congress. |  | Circus scene showing a man (magician?) standing on a table holding a curtain, standing to the right is a clown with a horn, on the left a man is balancing on one foot on a moving horse while another performer stands nearby, the audience stands in the back.Credit: Library of Congress. |
 | Amateur night performer. FSA (Farm Security Administration) mobile camp for migratory farm workers. Odell, Oregon.Credit: Library of Congress. | ||
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Play | Caption |
 | Circus; drum roll; daredevil; trapeze; performer; acrobat. |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Author | Quotation |
Ralph Waldo Emerson | Good writing is a kind of skating which carries off the performer where he would not go. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | |
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Business | The strong performance by this sector, which was the star performer chalking up an impressive 15.3% growth in 1998, helped to offset the decline in the electronics sector at large. (references) | |
Economic History | Panama | Lively salsa--a mixture of Latin American popular music, rhythm and blues, jazz, and rock--is a Panamanian specialty, and Ruben Blades its best-known performer. (references) |
Philippines | Nonetheless, the country continues to be a weak economic performer. (references) | |
Zambia | Agriculture continues to be a good performer for Zambia although many of the nation's resources are directed to producing maize, a non-cash crop. (references) | |
Political Economy | PHILIPPINES | Performers Rights: "The qualifying rights of a performer . . . shall be maintained and exercised fifty years after his death." However, ambiguities exist concerning exclusive rights for copyright owners over broadcast and retransmission. (references) |
Lexicography | Devil's Dictionary | OPERA, n. A play representing life in another world, whose inhabitants have no speech but song, no motions but gestures and no postures but attitudes. All acting is simulation, and the word simulation is from simia, an ape; but in opera the actor takes for his model Simia audibilis (or Pithecanthropos stentor) -- the ape that howls. The actor apes a man -- at least in shape; The opera performer apes and ape. |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| Speaker | Phrase(s) |
Barry Manilow | I'm a writer who sings. That's great. Although I have made quite a career as a performer, and I think I have gotten better at it, but I was never really comfortable doing it. I'm still comfortable behind the piano as a musician. |
Jon Stewart | Sir, absolutely, and it is my personal mission to find a satisfactory replacement, a performer of character, a performer of honor. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| "Performer" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 99.37% of the time. "Performer" is used about 475 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 99.37% | 472 | 12,530 |
| Noun (proper) | 0.63% | 3 | 202,518 |
| Total | 100.00% | 475 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expressions using "performer": cabaret performer ♦ circus performer. Additional references. | |
| Hyphenated Usage | |
Beginning with "performer": performer-composers, performer-director. | |
Ending with "performer": composer-performer, movement-performer. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Language | Translations for "performer"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Albanian | përmbushës, zbatonjës, interpretues (exponent). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Arabic | فنان (artist, maestro, master, songster), ممثل (actor, agent, delegate, deputy, player, rep, representative, stager, star, vicar), المنجز للعمل العظيم, المؤدي, العامل الكفؤ, العامل (factor, laborer, laborist, labourer, labourist, operative, operator, stiff, worker). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bulgarian | изпълнител (doer, enactor, executant, executer, executor, exponent, impersonator, personator). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Chinese | "" (actor or actress), 执行者 (Executor). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Czech | představitel (representative), vykonavatel (executor), umìlec (artist), herec (actor, player). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Danish | udførende entitet (performing application entity), udførende applikationsenhed (performing application entity), udøvende kunstner. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Dutch | uitvoerende applicatie-entiteit (performing application entity), uitvoerend kunstenaar. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Farsi | ایفاکننده . (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Finnish | esittävä taiteilija tai esittäjä. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
French | exécutant (performing application entity), artiste. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
German | Darsteller (actor, impersonator). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Greek | ηθοποιόσ (actor, actress, artiste, entertainer, impersonator, thespian, trouper), εκτελεστήσ, επιτελών (performing application entity), επιτελούσα οντότητα εφαρμογής (performing application entity). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hebrew | מופיען (entertainer), מחולל (dancer, doer, generator, originator), מבצע (effector, executing, executor, performing), מצי' (exhibitor, introductory), שחקן (actor, artist, player, thespian), 'ן (instrumentalist, music player, musician, player). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hungarian | színész (actor, play actor, player, theatrical, thespian), színművész, előadóművész, előadó (desk, don, lecturer, presenter, reader). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Indonesian | pelaku (actor, agent, doer, subject), pelakon (actor, actress, doer), dramawan (stage actor). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Italian | esecutore (executioner, executor, performing application entity). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Kanji | 芸能人 , 芸人 (actor, player), 行為者 (doer), "奏者 (player), 出"者 (actor, entertainer), 実行者 , 俳優 (actor, actress, player). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Katakana | しゅつえ"しゃ (actor, entertainer), "ういしゃ (doer), 'いのうじ", 'いに" (actor, player), じっ"うしゃ, はいゆう (actor, actress, player, poetry pals), え"そうしゃ (player). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Korean | 연예인 (Entertainer). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Manx | jeantagh (doer, fabricator, maker, manufacturer, practical, producer), jantagh (achiever, active, active grammatical, actor, agent, manufacturer, perpetrator, producer). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Maya | thuthlah (tightrope performer). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Pig Latin | erformerpay executor (doe skin, executioner, executrix, headsman, jackal, performing application entity), executante (execute, exponent, representative), entidade de aplicação executora (performing application entity), atuação profissional, ator (actor, impersonator, impostor, mummer, player), artista intérprete ou executante, artista (artist, artiste, bohemian, craftsman, master, operative, player), aquele que executa. (various references) solist (principal), interpret (exponent, expositor, illustrator, impersonator, interpreter, translator), fãptaş (author, evil doer, perpetrator), executor (accomplisher, executioner, hangman), executant (doer, executant, executor, hand), actor (actor, artiste, histrion, player). (various references) исполнитель (executant, executor, exercutor, exponent, hand, implementer, minister). (various references) vršilac (doer, executor), umetnik (artist), izvršilac (agent, executant, executioner, executor, implementer, perpetrator), izvođač. (various references) ejecutante. (various references) utförande applikationsentitet (performing application entity), utövare (cultivator), spelare (gambler, player), förrättare, aktör (actor). (various references) yerine getiren, yapan (acting, doer, maker, monger), sanatçı (artificer, artist, craftsman, long-haired), oyuncu (actor, frisky, gambler, hoaxer, play actor, player, playful, prankish, sportive, thespian, trickster, tricksy, tricky). (various references) виконавець (doer, executant), артист (artist, artiste). (various references) người biểu diễn. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | actoribus, executor. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "performer": performers. (additional references) | |
Words ending with "performer": nonperformer. (additional references) | |
Words containing "performer": nonperformers. (additional references) | |
| |
"Performer" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: Percomex, performa, performan, performce, performe, preformer. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "performer" (pronounced perfô"rmer) |
| 5 | -f ô" r m er | former, informer, reformer, transformer. |
| 4 | -ô" r m er | dormer, warmer. |
| 3 | -r m er | armer, Armor, armour, charmer, farmer, Harmer. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "e-e-f-m-o-p-r-r-r" | |
-1 letter: reformer. | |
-2 letters: emperor, perform, preform. | |
-3 letters: formee, former, prefer, reform, romper. | |
-4 letters: error, forme, freer, frere, frore, merer, moper, ormer, proem, refer, repro, roper. | |
-5 letters: feme, fere, fore, form, free, froe, from, mere, mope, more, omer, peer, perm, poem, pome, pore, pree, prof, prom, reef, repo, romp, rope. | |
| Words containing the letters "e-e-f-m-o-p-r-r-r" | |
+1 letter: performers. | |
+3 letters: nonperformer. | |
+4 letters: nonperformers. | |
+5 letters: preperformance. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
Hexadecimal (or equivalents, 770AD-1900s) (references)50 65 72 66 6F 72 6D 65 72 |
| Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519; backwards) (references)
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| American Sign Language (origins from 1620-1817 in Italy and, especially, France) (references)
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| Semaphore (1791, in France) (references)
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| Braille (1829, in France) (references)
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Morse Code (1836) (references).--. . .-. ..-. --- .-. -- . .-. |
| Dancing Men (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 1903) (references)
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Binary Code (1918-1938, probably earlier) (references)01010000 01100101 01110010 01100110 01101111 01110010 01101101 01100101 01110010 |
HTML Code (1990) (references)P e r f o r m e r |
ISO 10646 (1991-1993) (references)0050 0065 0072 0066 006F 0072 006D 0065 0072 |
| British Sign Language (Fingerspelling, BSL; 1992, British Deaf Association Dictionary of British Sign Language) (references)
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Encryption (beginner's substitution cypher): (references)507184728184797184 |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Images: Slideshow 7. Images: Photo Album 8. Sounds | 9. Quotations: Familiar 10. Quotations: Non-fiction 11. Quotations: Spoken 12. Usage Frequency | 13. Expressions 14. Expressions: Internet 15. Translations: Modern 16. Translations: Ancient | 17. Derivations 18. Rhymes 19. Anagrams 20. Orthography | 21. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
