promotion
Pluralpromotions
- 1A move to a higher rank or position, usually with greater responsibility or pay.
Her promotion to senior manager came with a larger office and a raise.
Years of strong performance finally earned him a promotion.
Similaradvancement, elevation, upgrade, rise
Oppositedemotion
Note
Advancement at work carries the word's Latin picture with it: Late Latin promotio, from promoveo, "I move forward," so a promotion is a step forward through the ranks. Its direct opposite is demotion. The word works both as a countable event, when you get or give someone a promotion, and as an uncountable prospect, as in hopes of promotion.
- 2The spreading of information about something in order to increase its popularity.
The book's success owed much to clever online promotion.
Effective promotion helped the new app gain thousands of users in a week.
Similarpublicity, marketing, advertising
- 3An event or campaign meant to increase the reach or image of a product or brand.
The launch promotion included giveaways and a celebrity appearance.
Their summer promotion boosted sales by nearly thirty percent.
Similarcampaign, drive, offer, special
Note
Marketing narrows the word from an activity to something you can schedule and count. A price cut can itself be the promotion, as when a discount serves as a promotion of a manufacturer's new beverage varieties. Sampling events and sponsored campaigns belong here too. Where the general spreading of word is ongoing work, this sense names a bounded campaign, which is why marketers speak of running a promotion.
- 4The change of a pawn into a stronger piece when it reaches the opponent's back rank.
Her promotion of the pawn to a queen sealed the win.
With promotion just one move away, he defended the pawn carefully.
Similarqueening
Note
Chess takes the career sense literally. A pawn that reaches the far side of the board is raised to a queen, rook, bishop or knight of its own color. Players say a pawn is promoted, or promotes, to a queen. Choosing any piece other than a queen is called underpromotion. It is a rare choice, made for tactical reasons such as avoiding stalemate.
- 5In zoology, forward movement, especially of an animal's limb or other appendage; the opposite of remotion.
Researchers filmed the promotion of each leg as the insect crossed the glass.
During walking, promotion of the limb carries the foot forward before it grips the surface.
Oppositeremotion
Note
A zoologist's term for the forward swing of a limb, usually named in a pair with its opposite, remotion, and often hyphenated as promotion-remotion. The joint doing the work differs between groups. In insects it is where the leg meets the body, and in spiders it is the joint between coxa and trochanter. Of all the senses, this one stays closest to the Latin "move forward" behind the career sense.
Practice
Can you tell the meanings of promotion apart? Answer 3 quick questions from this page, or write your own sentence and AI will check it.
Origin
This word entered late Middle English from Old French 'promocion', which came from Late Latin 'promotio', ultimately from Latin 'promoveo' ('I move forward'). It is equivalent to 'promote' plus '-ion'.