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
A day earlier, a wave of data-center opposition had helped candidates promising to freeze development win statehouses in Texas, Georgia, Ohio and Michigan—all major states for data-center sites.
From The Wall Street Journal ● 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
Still, the day was off to a promising start.
From "The Hidden Gallery" by Maryrose Wood
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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.
