promotion

[pruh-moh-shuhn]

noun

1. advancement in rank or position.

2. furtherance or encouragement.

3. the act of promoting.

4. the state of being promoted.

5. something devised to publicize or advertise a product, cause, institution, etc., as a brochure, free sample, poster, television or radio commercial, or personal appearance.

6. Also called queening. Chess.,  the replacement of a pawn that has reached the enemy's first rank by a more powerful piece of the same color, usually a queen.

Other Word Forms

• promotional adjective
• nonpromotion noun
• prepromotion noun
• self-promotion noun
• unpromotional adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of promotion¹

First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English, from Late Latin prōmōtiōn-, stem of prōmōtiō “movement forward, advancement”; equivalent to promote + -ion

Example Sentences

UFC gloves are fingerless and the promotion introduced redesigned gloves in June 2024 in an effort to reduce eye pokes, cuts and hand injuries.

Read more on BBC

China’s e-commerce players have invested heavily in the industry and have resorted to aggressive promotions to capture more market share.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Lisa Adams, chief revenue officer at Hazelwood, Mo.-based TeeTurtle, which makes T-shirts, toys and games, said the company had to be far more precise in how it planned promotions.

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They really cared about the people who played there and would often champion their favorites and help build their followings through promotion and advertising, namely in the free print edition of LA Weekly.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

While meaningful promotions and discounts are certainly taking hold, they may eat more into retailer profits than usual given higher costs.

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