An Etymological Dictionary of Astronomy and Astrophysics
English-French-Persian

A sentence or expression which is not only describing a given reality, but actually does or accomplishes something. For example "I now declare you husband and wife" (when uttered by the authorized officiator during a marriage ceremony).

→ performative; → utterance.

1) An act of uttering; a spoken word, statement, or vocal sound.
2) Something uttered; a word or words uttered; a cry, animal's call, or the like.
3) Linguistics: Any speech sequence consisting of one or more words and preceded and followed by silence: it may be coextensive with a sentence (Dictionary.com).

→ utter; → -ance.