promise

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun A declaration assuring that one will or will not do something; a vow.
• noun Something promised.
• noun Indication of something favorable to come; expectation.
• noun Indication of future excellence or success.
• intransitive verb To commit oneself by a promise to do or give; pledge.
• intransitive verb To afford a basis for expecting.
• intransitive verb To make a declaration assuring that something will or will not be done.
• intransitive verb To afford a basis for expectation.

from The Century Dictionary.

• To make a promise of; engage to do, give, grant, or procure for some one; especially, to engage that some benefit shall be conferred.
• To afford reason to expect: as, the year promises a good harvest; the clouds promise rain.
• To assure.
• To make as promisor; be the promisor in.
• Synonyms To assure, engage, covenant. See the noun.
• To assure one by a promise! or binding declaration.
• To afford hopes or expectations; give ground for expecting satisfactory or agreeable results.
• To stand sponsor.
• noun 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.
• noun Ground or basis of expectation; earnest: pledge.
• noun That which affords a ground or basis for hope or for expectation of future excellence or distinction: as, a youth of great promise.
• noun That which is promised; fulfilment or grant of what is promised.
• noun A promise made without seal, either orally or in writing, as distinguished from one made under seal, which is technically called a covenant.
• noun 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.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• adjective 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.
• adjective (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.
• adjective That which causes hope, expectation, or assurance; especially, that which affords expectation of future distinction.
• adjective Bestowal, fulfillment, or grant of what is promised.
• intransitive verb To give assurance by a promise, or binding declaration.
• intransitive verb To afford hopes or expectation; to give ground to expect good; rarely, to give reason to expect evil.
• transitive verb To engage to do, give, make, or to refrain from doing, giving, or making, or the like; to covenant; to engage
• transitive verb To afford reason to expect; to cause hope or assurance of.
• transitive verb To make declaration of or give assurance of, as some benefit to be conferred; to pledge or engage to bestow
• transitive verb See Land of promise, under Land.
• transitive verb To be assured; to have strong confidence.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• noun An oath or affirmation; a vow.
• noun 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.
• verb transitive To commit to something or action; to make an oath; make a vow.
• verb intransitive To give grounds for expectation, especially of something good.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• verb make a promise or commitment
• verb make a prediction about; tell in advance
• noun a verbal commitment by one person to another agreeing to do (or not to do) something in the future
• noun grounds for feeling hopeful about the future
• verb promise to undertake or give
• verb give grounds for expectations