promote
- 01 B1 Intermediate
to give someone a more important job or a higher position in a company.
to elevate an employee to a more senior, responsible, or higher-paid position within an organisational hierarchy.
Simple“After three years of hard work, the company decided to promote her to manager.”
In context“The board of directors voted unanimously to promote the chief operating officer to the role of CEO following the successful merger.”
UsageOften used in the passive voice: 'She was promoted to...'
- 02 B1 Intermediate
to help something happen, develop, or become more popular.
to contribute to the progress or growth of something; to foster or advocate for a particular cause or practice.
Simple“The government is trying to promote healthy eating in schools.”
In context“The international summit aimed to promote sustainable development goals across emerging economies through shared technological investment.”
- 03 B1 Intermediate
to use advertising to tell people about a product so they will buy it.
to publicise a product, service, or event in order to increase sales or public awareness.
Simple“The band is touring the country to promote their new album.”
In context“The marketing department launched a multi-channel campaign to promote the luxury vehicle to a younger demographic.”
- 04 B2 Upper Intermediate
to move a sports team up to a better or higher league.
to advance a sports team to a higher division or league, typically as a result of their performance in the previous season.
Simple“If they win this match, the team will be promoted to the Premier League.”
In context“After a decade in the lower divisions, the club was finally promoted to the top flight following a dramatic final-day victory.”
UsageCommonly used in the passive voice in British English sports contexts.
- 05 C1 Advanced
to change a pawn into a more powerful piece, like a queen, when it reaches the end of the board.
to exchange a pawn for any piece of the same colour except a king when it reaches the opponent's end of the board.
Simple“He managed to get his pawn to the last row and promote it to a queen.”
In context“The grandmaster chose to promote the pawn to a knight rather than a queen to deliver an immediate checkmate.”
- 06 C1 Advanced
to change a piece of data into a more complex type so the computer can process it.
to convert a data value from a lower-precision type to a higher-precision type, such as converting an integer to a float.
Simple“The software will automatically promote the integer to a decimal during the calculation.”
In context“Implicit type conversion will promote the variable to a double-precision floating point to prevent loss of data during the division operation.”
Usage actively image promote · actively promote · improvement promote
From Latin prōmōtus, perfect passive participle of prōmoveō (“move forward, advance”).
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.