Meaning & use
actual performance
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Meanings
noununcountable
How well someone or something really does, measured by results rather than by plans or promises.
Grammar: Usually uncountable and used with verbs like measure, improve, compare or assess: we assess actual performance.
Patterns
- measure actual performance
- improve actual performance
- actual performance of something
- compare actual performance with something
The report compares the team's actual performance with the targets set in January.
Coaches watch video to judge actual performance, not just reputation.
Actual performance in the exam was lower than the practice scores suggested.
noununcountabletechnical
The real way a machine, system or substance works when it is used, as opposed to its designed or advertised behavior.
Grammar: Technical use; often followed by 'of' naming the device or system being tested.
Patterns
- actual performance of a device
- test actual performance
- under actual performance conditions
Engineers tested the battery's actual performance at low temperatures.
The marketing figures are impressive, but the actual performance of the pump is modest.
We recorded the actual performance of the network during peak hours.
Common combinations
- actual performance data
- The board asked for actual performance data, not forecasts.
- measure actual performance
- It is hard to measure actual performance without clear goals.
- improve actual performance
- Training helped improve actual performance on the factory floor.
- compare actual performance with
- Analysts compare actual performance with the original budget.
- actual performance review
- Her actual performance review was better than she feared.
Synonyms and how they differ
- real performance
- Very close in meaning, but 'real' is more conversational and less common in formal reports.
- results
- Focuses on the outcomes achieved rather than on how well the work was done.
- output
- Refers to the amount produced, which is only one part of actual performance.
Opposites
Word family
- perform verb
- to do a task, job or action
- performance noun
- how well someone or something does something
- performer noun
- a person who takes part in a performance or does a task well or badly
- actually adverb
- in fact; in reality
Commonly confused: actual performance or actual?
actual performance vs actual
The adjective means 'real or exact', while 'current' means 'happening now'. Actual performance is what really happened; current performance is what is happening at this time.
Practice
The manager wanted to know how the new machine behaved in daily use, so she asked for figures on its ______ performance.
Choose one answer.
'Actual performance' means real measured results, which is exactly what the manager wants. 'Current' would mean performance at this moment, and 'actualized' is a verb form that cannot modify 'performance' here.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “actual performance”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.