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promise

Pronunciation: /ˈpɹɒmɪs/

The English word “promise” has 8 meanings listed here.

noun

  1. An oath or affirmation; a vow.
  2. 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 their use.
  3. Something promised.
  4. Reason to expect improvement or success; potential.
  5. A placeholder object representing the eventual result of an asynchronous operation.
  6. Bestowal or fulfillment of what is promised.

verb

  1. To commit to (some action or outcome), or to assure (a person) of such commitment; to make an oath or vow.
  2. To give grounds for expectation, especially of something good.

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”).

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Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.