promise

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  Moses Views the Promised Land
• WordNet 3.6
  • v promise make a promise or commitment
  • v promise promise to undertake or give "I promise you my best effort"
  • v promise make a prediction about; tell in advance "Call the outcome of an election"
  • v promise give grounds for expectations "The new results were promising","The results promised fame and glory"
  • n promise grounds for feeling hopeful about the future "there is little or no promise that he will recover"
  • n promise a verbal commitment by one person to another agreeing to do (or not to do) something in the future
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Additional illustrations & photos:

BABY ASKS BETSY TO PROMISE

• Interesting fact: Franklin Pierce is the only President to have said "I promise" instead of "I swear at his Inauguration. He did it for religious reasons.
• • Promise (Law) An engagement by one person to another, either in words or in writing, but properly not under seal, for the performance or nonperformance of some particular thing. The word promise is used to denote the mere engagement of a person, without regard to the consideration for it, or the corresponding duty of the party to whom it is made.
  • Promise Bestowal, fulfillment, or grant of what is promised. "He . . . commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father."
  • Promise In general, a declaration, written or verbal, made by one person to another, which binds the person who makes it to do, or to forbear to do, a specified act; a declaration which gives to the person to whom it is made a right to expect or to claim the performance or forbearance of a specified act. "For if the inheritance be of the law, it is no more of promise : but God gave it to Abraham by promise ."
  • Promise That which causes hope, expectation, or assurance; especially, that which affords expectation of future distinction; as, a youth of great promise . "My native country was full of youthful promise ."
  • Promise To afford hopes or expectation; to give ground to expect good; rarely, to give reason to expect evil. "Will not the ladies be afeard of the lion?
    I fear it, I promise you."
  • Promise To afford reason to expect; to cause hope or assurance of; as, the clouds promise rain.
  • Promise To engage to do, give, make, or to refrain from doing, giving, or making, or the like; to covenant; to engage; as, to promise a visit; to promise a cessation of hostilities; to promise the payment of money. "To promise aid."
  • Promise To give assurance by a promise, or binding declaration.
  • Promise To make declaration of or give assurance of, as some benefit to be conferred; to pledge or engage to bestow; as, the proprietors promised large tracts of land; the city promised a reward. "I dare promise myself you will attest the truth of all I have advanced."
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• Interesting fact: In July 1981, a tortoise was sentenced to death for murder. Tribal elders in Kyuasini, a village in Kenya, formally condemned the tortoise because they suspected it of causing the death of six people, apparently through magic. However, because none of the villagers was prepared to risk the tortoise's wrath by carrying out the execution, it was instead chained to a tree. The tortoise was later freed after the government promised an official inquiry into the deaths.
• • n promise A declaration in reference to the future, whether written or verbal, made by one person to another, purporting to assure the latter that the former will do or forbear from a specified act, or cause it to be done or refrained from; a declaration intended to give to the person to whom it is made assurance of his right to expect from the promisor the thing promised; especially, a declaration that something shall be done or given for the benefit of the promisee or another. In law, a promise is not binding in such sense as to be directly enforceable through the courts, unless made upon a consideration good or valuable; in which case the promise and the consideration together form a contract or agreement (if under seal, termed a covenant) which binds the promisor, and it may be bis legal representatives, and gives the promisee, and in some cases a third person for whose benefit the promise was made, the right to enforce it by suit, or to recover damages for its breach.
  • n promise Ground or basis of expectation; earnest: pledge.
  • n promise That which affords a ground or basis for hope or for expectation of future excellence or distinction: as, a youth of great promise.
  • n promise That which is promised; fulfilment or grant of what is promised.
  • n promise A promise made without seal, either orally or in writing, as distinguished from one made under seal, which is technically called a covenant.
  • n promise Synonyms Assurance, Promise, Engagement, Pledge, Covenant. These words are arranged in the order of strength; it would be dishonorable to fail to keep what even the weakest of them expresses. The formality and solemnity of each are proportioned to its strength. A covenant is a mutual obligation; the others are not. Each of them may be either spoken or written, but the written is generally more formal, and may have greater legal obligation.
  • promise To make a promise of; engage to do, give, grant, or procure for some one; especially, to engage that some benefit shall be conferred.
  • promise To afford reason to expect: as, the year promises a good harvest; the clouds promise rain.
  • promise To assure.
  • promise To make as promisor; be the promisor in.
  • promise Synonyms To assure, engage, covenant. See the noun.
  • promise To assure one by a promise! or binding declaration.
  • promise To afford hopes or expectations; give ground for expecting satisfactory or agreeable results.
  • promise To stand sponsor.
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• Interesting fact: Mary Todd once dated both Abe Lincoln and Stephen Douglas. She chose Lincoln because he showed more promise, and she was right - he was good at everything but ducking.
• • n Promise prom′is an engagement made by a person either verbally or in writing to do or keep from doing something: expectation or that which causes expectation: a ground for hope of future excellence:
  • v.t Promise to make an engagement to do or not to do something: to afford reason to expect: to assure: to engage to bestow
  • v.i Promise to assure one by a promise: to afford hopes or expectations:
  • n Promise prom′is (rare) fulfilment of what is promised
  • v.i Promise (rare) to stand sponsor
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• Archibald Macleish

  

  “America is promises to take! America is promises to us to take them.”
• Henri B. Stendhal

  

  “Beauty is the promise of happiness.”
• Simone Weil

  

  “Beauty always promises, but never gives anything.”
• Dutch Proverb

  

  “Promises make debt, and debt makes promises.”
• William Carey

  

  “The future is as bright as the promises of God.”
• Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

  

  “Girls we love for what they are; men for what they promise to be.”

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