How to Use performative in a Sentence
performative
adjective-
What the speech boiled down to is to shine a light on the justice system and that change just can't be performative.
— Alamin Yohannes, EW.com, 24 Jan. 2023 -
It’s hard to just create performative art out of the blue.
— Randy Dotinga, The Christian Science Monitor, 22 Nov. 2019 -
Taking the stage in a red gown, Lee showcased the single with a live band and a performative sense of flair.
— Emily Zemler, Rolling Stone, 8 Dec. 2023 -
There’s the performative aspect of it, but no one lets that get in the way of the spirit of the competition.
— John Shea, San Francisco Chronicle, 18 Sep. 2022 -
But Migos made the style sound fresh, less performative and more glossy.
— Jon Caramanica, New York Times, 1 Nov. 2022 -
The above stats are a great sign for how performative Death Stranding should be across a range of PC hardware.
— Sam MacHkovech, Ars Technica, 1 July 2020 -
But the best part isn’t that Quinn is carrying around a performative-art piece Jezebel tells me is about $900.
— Vulture Editors, Vulture, 30 Dec. 2021 -
These notes are cozy and performative and a little dorky, the kind of thinky seduction that Ephron writes best.
— Rachel Syme, The New Yorker, 15 Aug. 2022 -
But Hawkins said many of those vows to change proved to be more performative than productive.
— USA TODAY, 14 Aug. 2023 -
Helfrich is quick to warn that the debates can’t be performative.
— Anna Oakes, Quartz, 6 June 2023 -
There’s nothing about it that should feel performative in any way.
— Los Angeles Times, 9 Aug. 2022 -
And so the performative nature of the outing is reduced.
— Washington Post, 9 Dec. 2020 -
Any heroics from the US, at this point, will mostly be performative.
— Nicolás Rivero, Quartz, 24 July 2021 -
Lee countered that the protest by Democrats was more performative than sincere.
— Bryan Schott, The Salt Lake Tribune, 22 Oct. 2020 -
Each band was firmly in its creative and performative prime that night.
— Rory Appleton, The Indianapolis Star, 11 May 2023 -
Once detected, the performative aroma of this style is hard to shake.
— Ron Charles, Washington Post, 7 Sep. 2023 -
The first is quiet and personal; the second is loud and performative.
— Steve Booren, The Denver Post, 21 July 2024 -
There’s also this performative culture around mah-jongg; white women dress up in costumes to play the game in their homes, with their friends.
— Time, 4 May 2021 -
The in-person workouts don’t start until May 24, so the threats right now are mostly performative.
— BostonGlobe.com, 17 Apr. 2021 -
Others had less faith in the scores to begin with and found the exercise largely performative.
— Gerrit De Vynck, Washington Post, 4 May 2023 -
Brands need to be performative to succeed in a social media world.
— Adam Hanft, Fortune, 25 Jan. 2024 -
The presentations got more performative as the day went on.
— Phoebe Connelly, Washington Post, 29 Jan. 2024 -
This is as much a physical attack as a performative one: Watch us, Hamas seems to be saying.
— Juliette Kayyem, The Atlantic, 7 Oct. 2023 -
The next five months will test how much of a desire there is by voters for Boebert’s brand of performative politics.
— David Mark, Washington Examiner, 12 Jan. 2024 -
So where does that leave those of us, like me, for whom mom friendships have felt forced, performative, fraught, and just like more emotional labor?
— Hannah Seligson, ELLE, 27 Feb. 2023 -
Why did one strike me, even then, as performative and fake, while the other became deeply meaningful?
— Sanderskristin, Longreads, 21 Oct. 2020 -
Since its app is all about the performative nature of modern existence, that should be easy.
— Owen Thomas, SFChronicle.com, 16 Sep. 2020 -
The first two, done in isolation, can be performative if not part of something like the third and fourth, which drive more significant change.
— Glenn Nelson, Outside Online, 2 Mar. 2021 -
So, for a performative few minutes, without taking any shots, the group walked toward the mobile media row, holding guns.
— Tribune News Service, Orange County Register, 17 Oct. 2024 -
There has been a great deal of performative activity on both ends of the political spectrum.
— Robert G. Eccles, Forbes, 10 Oct. 2024
Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'performative.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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