promise
Part of speech: noun
verb
Morphological type: simple
Topics: computing
engineering
law
mathematics
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
programming
sciences
Etymology: From Middle English promis, promisse, borrowed from Old French promesse, from Medieval Latin prōmissa, Latin prōmissum (“a promise”), feminine and neuter past participles of prōmittō (“to send forth, to say beforehand, to promise”), from pro (“forth”) + mittere (“to send”); see mission. Compare admit, commit, permit, etc. Displaced native ġehātan (“to promise”) and ġehāt (“a promise”).
Inflected forms:
form: promises
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: promyse
pos: noun
tags: alternative
obsolete
form: promises
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: promising
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: promised
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: promised
pos: verb
tags: past
form: promyse
pos: verb
tags: alternative
obsolete
Senses:
gloss: An oath or affirmation; a vow.
pos: noun
tags: countable
examples: When I make a promise, I always stick to it.
He broke his promise: he said he'd return my jewellery, but never did.
gloss: A transaction between two persons whereby the first person undertakes in the future to render some service or gift to the second person or devotes something valuable now and here to his use.
pos: noun
tags: countable
examples: He purſued Andrew Houſtoun upon his promiſe, to give him the like Sallary for the next year, and in abſence obtained him to be holden as confeſt and Decerned.
gloss: Reason to expect improvement or success; potential.
pos: noun
tags: uncountable
examples: My native country was full of youthful promise.
The original family who had begun to build a palace to rival Nonesuch had died out before they had put up little more than the gateway, so that the actual structure which had come down to posterity retained the secret magic of a promise rather than the overpowering splendour of a great architectural achievement.
She shows great promise as an actress.
gloss: A placeholder object representing the eventual result of an asynchronous operation.
pos: noun
tags: countable
examples: You can often use observables instead of promises to deliver values asynchronously.
gloss: Bestowal or fulfillment of what is promised.
pos: noun
tags: countable
obsolete
examples: He […] commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father.
gloss: To commit to (some action or outcome), or to assure (a person) of such commitment; to make an oath or vow.
pos: verb
tags: ambitransitive
ditransitive
examples: "You think that I'll take anything."
"I know you will, sweet." …
"There wasn't going to be any of that. You promised there wouldn't be."
"Well, there is now," she said sweetly.
Private-equity nabobs bristle at being dubbed mere financiers.[…]Much of their pleading is public-relations bluster. Clever financial ploys are what have made billionaires of the industry’s veterans. “Operational improvement” in a portfolio company has often meant little more than promising colossal bonuses to sitting chief executives if they meet ambitious growth targets. That model is still prevalent today.
If you promise not to tell anyone, I will let you have this cake for free.
She promised to never return to this town again.
He promised me a big kiss if I would drive him to the airport.
I can't promise success, but I'll do the best I can.
gloss: To give grounds for expectation, especially of something good.
pos: verb
tags: ambitransitive
examples: The clouds promise rain.
I liked the man for his own sake, and even had he promised to turn out a celebrity it would have had no weight with me. I look upon notoriety with the same indifference as on the buttons on a man's shirt-front, or the crest on his note-paper.
Synonyms: stipulate
Related words: promised
promisee
promising
promisor
promissory
Derived words: a lick and a promise
a promise is a promise
a promise made is a promise kept
breach of promise
break a promise
break one's promise
break-promise
election promise
forepromise
lick and a promise
mispromise
on a promise
outpromise
overpromise
pinky promise
prepromise
promisable
promiseful
promiseless
promiser
promise ring
promise the earth
promise the moon
promise the stars
promise the world
repromise
underpromise
unpromise
Translations: