performatively
performatively Lexical Profile
performatively Game Scores & Validity
• adverb
In a manner intended mainly to attract attention, win approval, or project a favorable image rather than out of genuine conviction.
"Critics argued that the corporation was acting performatively by changing its logo without reforming its labor practices."
By means of or in relation to dramatic, artistic, or social performance.
"The theorist examined how gender roles are performatively constructed through everyday gestures and speech."
In a way that effects an action or brings about a state of affairs by the very act of being uttered or enacted (especially in linguistics and philosophy).
"When the officiant says 'I now pronounce you married,' the words function performatively to create a legal bond."
Word Nuance & Usage
In contemporary social commentary, 'performatively' carries a strong pejorative nuance of insincerity or virtue-signaling, whereas in linguistics and philosophy it remains a neutral technical term describing utterances that enact what they state.
• Rhymes for performatively
• Nearby Words
Usage Trend
Historical frequency of usage in published text.