promise
- 01 A2 Elementary
v.to tell someone that you will certainly do something or that something will happen.
v.to commit to a specific course of action or outcome; often used ditransitively with an indirect object.
Simple“He promised to call his mother as soon as he arrived at the hotel.”
In context“The candidate promised to reform the tax system within the first hundred days of his administration, though skeptics questioned the feasibility of such a timeline.”
PitfallI promise to doing it. I promise to do it.The verb 'promise' is followed by a to-infinitive, not a gerund (-ing form).
- 02 B2 Upper Intermediate
v.to give someone a reason to expect something good in the future.
v.to provide grounds for expecting a particular, usually positive, outcome.
Simple“The clear blue sky promised a beautiful day for the wedding.”
In context“The early data from the clinical trials promised a significant breakthrough in the treatment of chronic respiratory conditions.”
- 03 A2 Elementary
n.a statement that you will definitely do something.
n.a declaration or assurance that one will do a particular thing or that a particular thing will happen.
Simple“She made a promise to herself to exercise every morning.”
In context“The diplomat emphasized that a broken promise could irreparably damage the fragile trust between the two neighbouring nations.”
- 04 B1 Intermediate
n.signs that someone or something will be successful in the future.
n.indication of future excellence or success; often used with 'show' or 'full of'.
Simple“The young pianist shows great promise and might become famous one day.”
In context“Despite his lack of formal training, the apprentice showed such promise that the master craftsman offered him a full partnership.”
- 05 C1 Advanced
n.a tool in computer coding that represents a result that is not ready yet.
n.an object representing the eventual completion or failure of an asynchronous operation and its resulting value.
Simple“The function returns a promise that resolves when the data finishes downloading.”
In context“By chaining promises, the developer managed to handle multiple API requests without nesting callbacks into an unreadable structure.”
UsageCommonly used in JavaScript and other languages to handle tasks that take time, like loading data.
Synonyms
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 (“I send forth, I say beforehand, I promise”), from pro (“forth”) + mittere (“to send”); see mission. Compare admit, commit, permit, etc. Displaced native ġehātan (“to promise”) and ġehāt (“a promise”).
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.