How to Use promise in a Sentence

promise

1 of 2 noun
  • She gave me her promise.
  • There is a promise of better days ahead.
  • She never made a promise that she didn't intend to keep.
  • There is little promise of relief in the forecast.
  • They were attracted by the promise of success.
  • But trust is not built on promises.
    — Kurt Knutsson, FOXNews.com, 9 Mar. 2026
  • Do these deals live up to their promises?
    — Teri Sforza, Oc Register, 10 Apr. 2026
  • On the ice, both have shown promise.
    — Peter Baugh, New York Times, 10 Apr. 2026
  • How well has this promise turned out?
    — Robert B. Reich, Hartford Courant, 5 Apr. 2026
  • For now, that promise is still in the lab.
    — Allison Palmer, Kansas City Star, 11 June 2026
  • So, the promise was a paper as busy as a bee.
    — Seán McMahon, Sacbee.com, 23 Jan. 2026
  • Showed some promise in the middle of the game.
    — Eduardo Razo, MSNBC Newsweek, 30 Aug. 2025
  • Of course, that kind of promise can be broken.
    — Los Angeles Times, 28 Apr. 2026
  • Breaking the promise not to start new wars.
    — Gary Franks, Hartford Courant, 4 Apr. 2026
  • But the promise is so much bigger.
    — Dev Patnaik, Forbes.com, 9 Sep. 2025
  • His third promise was to bring prices down and create more jobs.
    — Robert B. Reich, Hartford Courant, 5 Apr. 2026
  • The promise of a vote in over a month does not meet that threshold.
    — Todd Spangler, Freep.com, 10 Nov. 2025
  • Choose a doable promise, then honor it well.
    — Tarot.com, Hartford Courant, 6 Apr. 2026
  • What does this clip promise, cost, and reward?
    — Adam Howard, Time, 10 June 2026
  • Now, will that promise be followed through?
    — Nick Harris, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 2 Jan. 2026
  • Lead with honesty, then keep your promises.
    — Tarot.com, Baltimore Sun, 27 June 2026
  • When he's been able to be on the field, he's showed flashes of promise.
    — Kelsey Conway, The Enquirer, 28 Aug. 2023
  • But that’s not to say the club doesn’t have any young hitters with promise.
    — Mac Cerullo, Boston Herald, 21 Mar. 2026
  • But those countries made no promises.
    — Arkansas Online, 16 Mar. 2026
  • Gary makes good on his promise and builds a radio for Teri.
    — Maggie Fremont, Vulture, 9 Mar. 2026
  • The genre of your movie is an offer, a promise to the viewer.
    — Daren Smith, IndieWire, 27 May 2026
  • But promises like that haven't put Womer at ease.
    — Stephan Bisaha, NPR, 4 June 2026
  • And his vision of the future wasn’t just a promise of hope.
    — James Hibberd, HollywoodReporter, 28 Mar. 2026
  • And his vision of the future wasn’t just a promise of hope.
    — James Hibberd, HollywoodReporter, 23 Mar. 2026
  • Re‑articulate your brand promise for an AI‑first world.
    — Vivek Bhaskaran, Forbes.com, 25 June 2026

promise

2 of 2 verb
  • I promise to be careful.
  • Those gray skies promise rain.
  • Promise me that you won't tell anyone.
  • You always promise, but you never do what you say you will.
  • She promised to announce the results tomorrow.
  • The governor promised that the prisoners would receive a fair trial.
  • I can't promise you that I'll be able to go, but I'll do my best.
  • International organizations have promised aid.
  • We were promised new life downtown.
    — Letters To The Editor, The Orlando Sentinel, 15 June 2026
  • So far, the signs are promising.
    — Jack Pitt-Brooke, New York Times, 16 June 2026
  • She was promised there’d be no cameras.
    — Karen Valby, Vanity Fair, 16 June 2026
  • Here are five that look promising right now.
    — Ray Mark Rinaldi, Denver Post, 2 Mar. 2026
  • Lecornu has promised a break from those plans.
    — Kathleen Wong, USA Today, 2 Oct. 2025
  • Voters were promised three things.
    — Jon Coupal, Oc Register, 18 Jan. 2026
  • Some haven’t gotten what was promised.
    — Melissa Sanchez, ProPublica, 10 Oct. 2025
  • Manuelito promised to be there to help him through it.
    — Jordan Hoffman, Entertainment Weekly, 6 Apr. 2026
  • In one way, life is promising; things will go your way.
    — Georgia Nicols, Denver Post, 18 Oct. 2025
  • The politicians had told her they’d win—they’d promised it.
    — Sean Williams, Harpers Magazine, 27 Jan. 2026
  • We were promised free health care, and the unions are trying to take that away.
    — Voice Of The People, New York Daily News, 27 Jan. 2026
  • And fans are gearing up for what's been promised to be a wild, bloody ride.
    — Emily Blackwood, PEOPLE, 21 Jan. 2026
  • Things didn't look promising for France at the start.
    — ABC News, 17 Feb. 2026
  • The case did not look promising for the parents.
    — Ava Kofman, New Yorker, 9 Feb. 2026
  • These people promised to lower costs on day one.
    — ABC News, 19 Oct. 2025
  • The past doesn't promise the same in the future.
    — Zev Fima, CNBC, 1 June 2026
  • But Musk is again promising that a new one is on the way.
    — Lora Kolodny, CNBC, 31 Oct. 2025
  • Musk is promising all this with a brand new moonshot.
    — New Atlas, 23 Mar. 2026
  • He’s kept many of his campaign promises broad and vague.
    — Ben Paviour, Sacbee.com, 3 June 2026
  • Russia has promised to send a second tanker.
    — ABC News, 12 Apr. 2026
  • Many promise drop-offs in under an hour.
    — Jasmin Malik Chua, Sourcing Journal, 17 Mar. 2026
  • What new services will be promised to riders?
    — Lou Sandoval, Chicago Tribune, 5 Sep. 2025

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'promise.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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