What does promise mean?

promise means "make a promise or commitment". That is the primary sense; the word has 6 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in promise?

promise has 2 syllables: pro-mise. The stress falls on "pro". In IPA it is /ˈpɹɑməs/.

What is another word for promise?

Close synonyms include assure, predict, foretell, prognosticate, call. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is promise a common word?

promise is banded "Core" — among the few thousand words that carry most english. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.

promise — meaning, pronunciation and 6 definitions

verb

4 sensesAn action, occurrence or state of being.

1.
make a promise or commitment
Synonymsassure
Broaderdeclare
Narrowerpledge swear off contract undertake
2.
promise to undertake or give
“I promise you my best effort”
Broaderdeclare
3.
make a prediction about; tell in advance
“Call the outcome of an election”
Synonymspredict foretell prognosticate call forebode anticipate
Broaderguess
Narrowerread second-guess augur bet forecast prophesy
4.
give grounds for expectations
“The new results were promising”
“The results promised fame and glory”
Broaderbe

noun

2 sensesA person, place, thing, quality or idea.

1.
a verbal commitment by one person to another agreeing to do (or not to do) something in the future
Broaderspeech act commitment
Narroweroath parole betrothal pinning rain check
2.
grounds for feeling hopeful about the future
“there is little or no promise that he will recover”
Synonymshope
Broaderexpectation
Narrowerrainbow

Other forms of promise

plural: promises·
past tense: promised·
present participle: promising·

Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.

Questions about promise

What does promise mean?: promise means "make a promise or commitment". That is the primary sense; the word has 6 in total, listed in full on this page.
How many syllables are in promise?: promise has 2 syllables: pro-mise. The stress falls on "pro". In IPA it is /ˈpɹɑməs/.
What is another word for promise?: Close synonyms include assure, predict, foretell, prognosticate, call. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.
Is promise a common word?: promise is banded "Core" — among the few thousand words that carry most english. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.

Definitions, synonyms and semantic relations for promise come from Princeton University’s WordNet. The pronunciation comes from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. Commonness is measured against a corpus of everyday English. Full sources and licences.

verb

4 sensesAn action, occurrence or state of being.

1.
make a promise or commitment
Synonymsassure
Broaderdeclare
Narrowerpledge swear off contract undertake
2.
promise to undertake or give
“I promise you my best effort”
Broaderdeclare
3.
make a prediction about; tell in advance
“Call the outcome of an election”
Synonymspredict foretell prognosticate call forebode anticipate
Broaderguess
Narrowerread second-guess augur bet forecast prophesy
4.
give grounds for expectations
“The new results were promising”
“The results promised fame and glory”
Broaderbe

noun

2 sensesA person, place, thing, quality or idea.

1.
a verbal commitment by one person to another agreeing to do (or not to do) something in the future
Broaderspeech act commitment
Narroweroath parole betrothal pinning rain check
2.
grounds for feeling hopeful about the future
“there is little or no promise that he will recover”
Synonymshope
Broaderexpectation
Narrowerrainbow

Other forms of promise

plural: promises·
past tense: promised·
present participle: promising·

Questions about promise

What does promise mean?: promise means "make a promise or commitment". That is the primary sense; the word has 6 in total, listed in full on this page.
How many syllables are in promise?: promise has 2 syllables: pro-mise. The stress falls on "pro". In IPA it is /ˈpɹɑməs/.
What is another word for promise?: Close synonyms include assure, predict, foretell, prognosticate, call. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.
Is promise a common word?: promise is banded "Core" — among the few thousand words that carry most english. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.

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promise

verb

noun

Other forms of promise

Questions about promise

Tools

Jump to

Images & video

PDF & writing

Calculate & convert

Health & fitness

AI, code & work

Learn & play

Tool directories

Search

Jump to

Explore AltFTool

Help

Theme

promise

verb

noun

Other forms of promise

Questions about promise