promise
Verbpromises, promising, promised
Noun pluralpromises
Formspromises, promising, promised
Pluralpromises
- 1To pledge that one will carry out an action or bring about a result, or to give someone one's word on it.
I promise to return your car with a full tank.
The mayor promised lower taxes throughout the campaign.
UsagePatterns: promise to do, promise not to do, promise someone something, promise that + clause, or just I promise.
- 2A statement that you will or will not do something, or will give something; a vow or pledge.
The candidate's promise to lower fares won her many votes.
Diplomats exchanged solemn promises to honor the ceasefire.
UsageYou make a promise, then keep it or break it; a promise to do something, a promise of help.
- 3The potential of someone or something to improve or succeed.
The startup attracted investors because of its evident promise.
The team lost the final, but its young players showed real promise for next season.
UsageUsually show (great) promise or be full of promise; formal writing also has give promise of success.
- 4To make it seem likely that something, especially something good, will happen or be found.
These early results promise a strong recovery for the company.
The opening chapter promises an unusual and gripping story.
UsageThe subject is often a thing (clouds promise rain); promise to be means look likely to be: it promises to be hot.
Similaraugur, herald, signal, suggest, indicate
Note
No one has to intend anything for this verb to apply: clouds promise rain, and a first chapter promises a good story. Followed by to and a verb, it means "looks likely to," as in the American novelist Winston Churchill's The Celebrity (1898): "had he promised to turn out a celebrity." Unlike the verb of commitment, this kind of promise cannot be broken.
Less common meanings
- 5The bestowal or fulfillment of what has been promised.
Note
Here the word names the delivery rather than the pledge: what arrives when a promise is kept. In the King James Bible of 1611 the apostles are told to wait in Jerusalem for "the promise of the Father," meaning the gift itself, not an undertaking. The sense is obsolete, so read it as fulfillment in older texts; in current writing, say fulfillment or the thing promised, and keep promise for the undertaking itself.
Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 4 facts
- Promise has a sense meaning the bestowal or fulfillment of what was promised. en.wiktionary.org
- The King James Bible was first published in 1611. en.wikipedia.org
- Acts 1:4 tells the apostles to remain in Jerusalem and wait for "the promise of the Father"; the following verse identifies the promised gift as baptism with the Holy Ghost. en.wikisource.org
- The fulfillment sense is labelled obsolete. en.wiktionary.org
- 6An object used in asynchronous programming to represent the result of an operation that may not yet have finished.
Showing meanings only.
Practice
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Origin
English took it from Old French promesse, which came from Latin prōmissum, 'a promise': the past participle of prōmittō ('I send forth, say beforehand, promise'), formed from pro ('forth') and mittere ('to send'). It replaced the native Old English ġehātan ('to promise').
Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 6 facts
- English borrowed promise from Old French promesse. en.wiktionary.org
- Old French promesse derives ultimately from Latin prōmissum, meaning a promise, through Medieval or Late Latin prōmissa. en.wiktionary.org
- Prōmissum is the neuter form of the perfect passive participle of prōmittō. en.wiktionary.org
- Prōmittō means to send forth, say beforehand, or promise. en.wiktionary.org
- Prōmittō combines the prefix meaning forth with the verb meaning to send. en.wiktionary.org
- Promise displaced the native Old English verb ġehātan, meaning to promise. en.wiktionary.org