underperform

English

Etymology

From under- +‎ perform.

Pronunciation

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Verb

underperform (third-person singular simple present underperforms, present participle underperforming, simple past and past participle underperformed)

1. (transitive, intransitive) To underachieve; to fail to reach standards or expectations, especially with respect to a financial investment.
   • 2002, Robert M. Grant, Contemporary Strategy Analysis: Concepts, Techniques, Applications, page 40:

     Even outside the Anglo-Saxon world, underperforming public companies have become vulnerable to hostile takeover.

   • 2016 February 2, Porochista Khakpour, “‘The Vegetarian,’ by Han Kang”, in The New York Times‎^[1]:

     She inhabits the prose’s terrible serenity and glacial horror — the translator’s hand never overwhelms or underperforms.

   • 2021 February 4, Raj Chohan, “Erling Braut Haaland: Would Man City, Liverpool, Man Utd or Chelsea suit striker best?”, in BBC Sport‎^[2]:

     Jesus' finishing has been one of the main concerns - since the start of last season the 23-year-old has underperformed his Premier League expected goals tally by 6.97goals (in short, he has scored seven fewer goals than would be expected from the chances presented to him).

   • 2023 October 4, Philip Haigh, “HS2's rising costs: government only has itself to blame”, in RAIL, number 993, page 53:

     Former HS2 Ltd chairman Sir David Higgins provided a timely reminder of why Britain needs HS2 in a letter to The Times on September 25, in which he asked: "Why are so few FTSE 100 companies based outside the South East? Why is there such a brain drain of graduates from the North? Why do northern cities underperform compared with their European counterparts?

Antonyms

• overperform

Derived terms

• underperformance
• underperformer

Translations

underachieve; to fail to reach standards or expectations

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• Finnish: alisuoriutua, alisuorittaa
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• German: no equivalent term in German, but see hinter den Erwartungen zurückbleiben (to lag behind expectations), die Erwartungen enttäuschen (to belie expectations), unterdurchschnittlich abschneiden (to perform below the average)
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• Polish: no equivalent term in Polish, but see dokonywać (pl) impf, dokonać (pl) pf
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• Spanish: menosdesempeñarse, menosdesempeñar
• Swedish: underprestera (sv)
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