English Reference
Verb

outperform

v.
B2 Upper Intermediate US /ˈaʊtpɝˌfɔɹm/ UK /aʊtpəfˈɔːm/ out·per·form UK spelling outperformed, outperforming, outperforms

v.to do something better, faster, or more successfully than someone or something else.

v.to surpass or exceed the performance of a competitor, peer, or previous benchmark.


SIMPLE

The new model will outperform the older version in speed tests.

CONTEXTUAL

Small tech startups often outperform larger corporations because they can adapt to market changes more quickly.

COMPLEX

Despite the economic downturn, the company managed to outperform its rivals by diversifying its investment portfolio and cutting unnecessary operational costs.

Usage

The verb is transitive and requires a direct object representing the entity being surpassed.

Pitfall
The stock outperformed than the market average.The stock outperformed the market average.

Outperform is a transitive verb and does not require a preposition like 'than' or 'over' before the object.

Their experiment outperforms even a perfect, noise-free run of the old method.

Phys.org· 17 Aug 2026

The most promising results were from groups C and D, in which clove oil treatment outperformed amitraz.

Phys.org· 15 Aug 2026

From out- + perform.

Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

This entry
Level B2 · Upper Intermediate
Frequency Occasional
Updated