To outperform someone or something is to be more successful — to get a better result than they do. Sport can use it, but the word really lives in business, school reports, and money talk. A stock that outperforms the market made more money than the average. A student who outperforms the class did better on the test. People stretch it: a phone can outperform another phone, a plan can outperform another plan. Underneath, it still means the result was better, not that someone tried harder. Trying harder and still losing is not outperforming. It is a cool, slightly formal word. You would not usually tell a friend, “I outperformed you at dinner.”