underperforming

underperforming is the present participle and gerund of underperform.

Meaning of underperform

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

(ambitransitive) To underachieve; to fail to reach standards or expectations, especially with respect to a financial investment.
- Even outside the Anglo-Saxon world, underperforming public companies have become vulnerable to hostile takeover.2002, Robert M. Grant, Contemporary Strategy Analysis: Concepts, Techniques, Applications, page 40

underperforming (comparative more underperforming, superlative most underperforming)

That performs less well than required.
- Underperforming operators will risk termination of their contracts.2021 June 2, “Network News: Passenger service contracts”, in RAIL, number 932, page 9
- The goal was scruffy, with some debate over whether Johnson got the last touch - and was totally in keeping with the tepid domestic seasons of these two underperforming sides, but no-one at Spurs will care about that.2025 May 21, Simon Stone, “Tottenham Hotspur 1-0 Manchester United”, in BBC Sport

comparative	more underperforming
superlative	most underperforming

What does underperforming mean?: Underperforming means that performs less well than required.
What is underperforming the present participle and gerund of?: Underperforming is the present participle and gerund of underperform.
What part of speech is underperforming?: Underperforming is an adjective.

Adapted from Wiktionary: underperforming (page history and authors); underperform (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Cite this entry: “underperforming.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/underperforming. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.