promising
Americanadjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of promising
Explanation
Promising things are encouraging or hopeful — they give you every sign that they'll be successful in the future. A promising early spring hints that the rest of the season will be warm and full of flowers. A promising ballet dancer is young, but off to a very talented start. If you pick up a novel in a bookstore and the first few pages look promising, you'll probably buy it. Promising things are full of promise, "an indication that something will occur." The Latin root is promittere, "put forth," from pro-, "forward," and mittere, "send."
Vocabulary lists containing promising
Shine On, Luz Véliz!
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Are You Ready to Hatch an Unusual Chicken?
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Honestly Elliott
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
“Firms like JPMorgan want us to rebalance, but our focus is on performance,” said Scott, the architect of the portfolios, which are built around picking promising companies and holding their shares for long periods.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 6, 2026
"It's looking promising, but the only way you can find out is if you listen in," he says.
From BBC ● Nov. 6, 2026
This versatility is especially promising because it transforms the melting stage of production into an opportunity to design new material properties.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 5, 2026
Interior Minister Laurent Nunez announced Wednesday that 70,000 police officers and security forces would be deployed across the country, promising "an extremely firm response" to any "acts of violence" or disorder.
From Barron's ● Nov. 5, 2026
But while Washington attempted to transcend the ideological wars of the 1790s, Burr seemed disposed to tunnel beneath the warring camps, then pop up on the side promising him the bigger tribute.
From "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation" by Joseph J. Ellis
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Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
