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promise

noun
/ˈpɹɒmɪs/UK/ˈpɹɑmɪs/US

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”).

  1. derived from prōmissum — “a promise”
  2. derived from prōmissa
  3. derived from promesse
  4. inherited from promis

Definitions

  1. An oath or affirmation

    An oath or affirmation; a vow.

    • When I make a promise, I always stick to it.
    • He broke his promise: he said he'd return my jewellery, but never did.

  2. A transaction between two persons whereby the first person undertakes in the future to…

    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 his use.

    • He purſued Andrew Houſtoun upon his promiſe, to give him the like Sallary for the next year, and in abſence obtained him to be holden as confeſt and Decerned.

  3. Reason to expect improvement or success

    Reason to expect improvement or success; potential.

    • My native country was full of youthful promise.
    • She shows great promise as an actress.
  4. ›+ 5 more definitions

    1. A placeholder object representing the eventual result of an asynchronous operation.

      • You can often use observables instead of promises to deliver values asynchronously.

    2. Bestowal or fulfillment of what is promised.

      • He […] commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father.

    3. To commit to (some action or outcome), or to assure (a person) of such commitment

      To commit to (some action or outcome), or to assure (a person) of such commitment; to make an oath or vow.

      • "You think that I'll take anything." "I know you will, sweet." … "There wasn't going to be any of that. You promised there wouldn't be." "Well, there is now," she said sweetly.
      • If you promise not to tell anyone, I will let you have this cake for free.

    4. To give grounds for expectation, especially of something good.

      • The clouds promise rain.

    5. A female given name from English.

The neighborhood

Derived

a lick and a promise, a promise is a promise, a promise made is a promise kept, breach of promise, break a promise, break one's promise, break-promise, election promise, forepromise, lick and a promise, mispromise, on a promise, outpromise, overpromise, pinky promise, prepromise, promisable, promiseful, promiseless, promiser, promise ring, promise the earth, promise the moon, promise the stars, promise the world, repromise, underpromise, unpromise

Vish — recursive loop

A definitional loop anchored at promise. Each word in the ring is defined by the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself. Scroll to it and watch.

01promise02whereby03wherein04location05township06aside07excluded08kept09keep

A definitional loop anchored at promise. Each word in the ring appears in the definition of the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself.

9 hops · closes at promise

curated · pre-corpus. live cycle detection across the full graph is the next major milestone.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA