Library / English Dictionary

PROMISE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Grounds for feeling hopeful about the future

Example:

there is little or no promise that he will recover

Synonyms:

hope; promise

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Hypernyms ("promise" is a kind of...):

expectation; outlook; prospect (belief about (or mental picture of) the future)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "promise"):

rainbow (an illusory hope)

Derivation:

promise (promise to undertake or give)

promise (give grounds for expectations)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A verbal commitment by one person to another agreeing to do (or not to do) something in the future

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Hypernyms ("promise" is a kind of...):

commitment; dedication (a message that makes a pledge)

speech act (the use of language to perform some act)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "promise"):

oath (a solemn promise, usually invoking a divine witness, regarding your future acts or behavior)

parole; word; word of honor (a promise)

betrothal; engagement; troth (a mutual promise to marry)

pinning (a mutual promise of a couple not to date anyone else; on college campuses it was once signaled by the giving of a fraternity pin)

rain check (a promise that an unaccepted offer will be renewed in the future)

Derivation:

promise (make a promise or commitment)

promise (promise to undertake or give)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Make a promise or commitment

Synonyms:

assure; promise

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Hypernyms (to "promise" is one way to...):

declare (state emphatically and authoritatively)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "promise"):

pledge; plight (promise solemnly and formally)

swear off (promise to abstain from)

contract; undertake (enter into a contractual arrangement)

guarantee; undertake (promise to do or accomplish)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody to INFINITIVE
Somebody ----s that CLAUSE
Somebody ----s to INFINITIVE

Sentence example:

They promise him to write the letter

Derivation:

promise (a verbal commitment by one person to another agreeing to do (or not to do) something in the future)

promisee (a person to whom a promise is made)

promiser; promisor (a person who makes a promise)

promissory (relating to or having the character of a promise)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Promise to undertake or give

Example:

I promise you my best effort

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Hypernyms (to "promise" is one way to...):

declare (state emphatically and authoritatively)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody something
Somebody ----s something to somebody

Sentence examples:

They promise the money to them

They promise them the money

Derivation:

promise (grounds for feeling hopeful about the future)

promise (a verbal commitment by one person to another agreeing to do (or not to do) something in the future)

promisee (a person to whom a promise is made)

promisor (a person who makes a promise)

promissory (relating to or having the character of a promise)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Make a prediction about; tell in advance

Example:

Call the outcome of an election

Synonyms:

anticipate; call; forebode; foretell; predict; prognosticate; promise

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Hypernyms (to "promise" is one way to...):

guess; hazard; pretend; venture (put forward, of a guess, in spite of possible refutation)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "promise"):

read (interpret the significance of, as of palms, tea leaves, intestines, the sky; also of human behavior)

outguess; second-guess (attempt to anticipate or predict)

augur (predict from an omen)

bet; wager (maintain with or as if with a bet)

calculate; forecast (predict in advance)

prophesy; vaticinate (predict or reveal through, or as if through, divine inspiration)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s that CLAUSE

Sense 4

Meaning:

Give grounds for expectations

Example:

The results promised fame and glory

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Hypernyms (to "promise" is one way to...):

be (have the quality of being; (copula, used with an adjective or a predicate noun))

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Derivation:

promise (grounds for feeling hopeful about the future)

Credits

 Context examples: 

“Then you must promise something else,” I ventured.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

One of the most promising potential uses of the nanowire could be in biology.

(Nanowires replace Newton’s famous glass prism, University of Cambridge)

In the last decade, perovskite materials have emerged as promising alternatives.

(‘Messy’ production of perovskite material increases solar cell efficiency, University of Cambridge)

While there were multiple, promising outcomes from these screens, the team focused on the combination of histone deacetylase inhibitors (like panobinostat) with drugs called proteasome inhibitors (such as marizomib).

(Scientists find promising drug combination against lethal childhood brain cancers, National Institutes of Health)

I shall be glad so to do, sir, if you, in your turn, will promise that I and Adele shall be both safe out of the house before your bride enters it.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

I had, however, promised to take tea in a friend’s rooms, so I left the proof upon my desk.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

By lies and broken promises they had tricked him out of his story.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

When I promised her I would say nothing she kissed me, and I have never seen her since.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

And this satisfied Elizabeth: and when the invitation was given to the two present, and promised for the absent, Mary was as completely satisfied.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

We took a kind leave of each other, and I made him promise he would come to see me at my house in Redriff.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)