pledge

American  

[plej] / plɛdʒ /

noun

pledges plural

1. a solemn promise or agreement to do or refrain from doing something.

   a pledge of aid;

   a pledge not to wage war.

2. something delivered as security for the payment of a debt or fulfillment of a promise, and subject to forfeiture on failure to pay or fulfill the promise.

   Synonyms:

   guaranty, surety, warranty

3. the state of being given or held as security.

   to put a thing in pledge.

4. Law.

   1. the act of delivering goods, property, etc., to another for security.

   2. the resulting legal relationship.

5. something given or regarded as a security.

6. a person accepted for membership in a club, fraternity, or sorority, but not yet formally approved.

7. an assurance of support or goodwill conveyed by drinking a person's health; a toast.

8. Obsolete.

   1. a hostage.

   2. a person who becomes bail or surety for another.

---

verb (used with object)

pledges, present (3rd person singular) pledged, past participle, past pledging present participle

1. to bind by or as if by a pledge.

   to pledge hearers to secrecy.

2. to promise solemnly.

   to pledge one's support.

3. to give or deposit as a pledge; pawn.

4. to stake, as one's honor.

5. to secure by a pledge; give a pledge for.

6. to accept as a pledge for club, fraternity, or sorority membership.

7. to drink a health or toast to.

verb (used without object)

pledges, present (3rd person singular) pledged, past participle, past pledging present participle

1. to make or give a pledge.

   to pledge for someone.

2. to drink a pledge; toast someone's health, success, etc.

idioms

1. take the pledge, to make a solemn, formal vow to abstain from intoxicating drink.

pledge British  

/ plɛdʒ /

noun

1. a formal or solemn promise or agreement, esp to do or refrain from doing something

2. 1. collateral for the payment of a debt or the performance of an obligation

   2. the condition of being collateral (esp in the phrase in pledge )

3. a sign, token, or indication

   the gift is a pledge of their sincerity

4. an assurance of support or goodwill, conveyed by drinking to a person, cause, etc; toast

   we drank a pledge to their success

5. a person who binds himself, as by becoming bail or surety for another

6. to make a vow to abstain from alcoholic drink

---

verb

1. to promise formally or solemnly

   he pledged allegiance

2. (tr) to bind or secure by or as if by a pledge

   they were pledged to secrecy

3. to give, deposit, or offer (one's word, freedom, property, etc) as a guarantee, as for the repayment of a loan

4. to drink a toast to (a person, cause, etc)

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• pledger
  noun
• quasi-pledge
  verb
• interpledge
  verb (used with object)
• prepledge
  verb (used with object)
• repledge
  verb (used with object)
• pledgable
  adjective
• pledgeable
  adjective
• pledgeless
  adjective
• unpledged
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• pledges
  plural

Participles

• pledging
  present
• pledged
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• pledge
  simple
• pledges
  simple
• have pledged
  perfect
• has pledged
  perfect
• am pledging
  progressive
• are pledging
  progressive
• is pledging
  progressive
• have been pledging
  perfect progressive
• has been pledging
  perfect progressive

Past

• pledged
  simple
• had pledged
  perfect
• was pledging
  progressive
• were pledging
  progressive
• had been pledging
  perfect progressive

Future

• will pledge
  simple
• will have pledged
  perfect
• will be pledging
  progressive
• will have been pledging
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of pledge

First recorded in 1275–1325; Middle English plege, from Anglo-French, from early Medieval Latin plebium, plevium, noun derivative of plebīre “to pledge,” from Germanic; compare Old English plēon “to risk,” German pflegen “to look after”; cf. plight ²

Explanation

A pledge is basically very serious formal promise. You can pledge allegiance to your country, you can pledge to keep a secret, and you can pledge a sum of money to a cause. Pledge can be used as both a noun and a verb. As a noun, it can be a solemn promise you've made. Or even the person who makes that promise, like the freshman pledges who take an oath to join a fraternity in college. As a verb, it describes the act of promising. “I pledge you, I pledge myself, to a new deal for the American people,” vowed Franklin D. Roosevelt, the 32nd President of the United States.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

pledge pledges pledged pledging

Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi swept to a supermajority in February and promptly opened the spending taps, including a pledge to suspend the sales tax on food.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 28, 2026

Burnham would not be the first leader in recent years to pledge to address the issue of adult social care.

From BBC ● Jul. 25, 2026

Meta has abandoned a global pledge by leading companies to source all of their electricity from renewable sources, the social media giant confirmed Friday.

From Barron's ● Jul. 25, 2026

The White House persuaded tech companies and utilities to pledge to avoid shifting data-center grid costs onto regular households.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026

I made a pledge to uncover the truth about her disappearance.

From "The Bletchley Riddle" by Ruta Sepetys and Steve Sheinkin

The paper says senior economists are warning that the new prime minister will need to raise taxes, or else risk failing to deliver on his raft of "bolder policy pledges".

From BBC ● Jul. 22, 2026

The pledges could prove difficult to enforce because power prices are often decided by state regulators and electricity buyers and sellers.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 21, 2026

Another challenge for the effort is reaching upset consumers and showing them the pledges are having an impact, AI analysts have said.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 21, 2026

Business executives quite properly have taken these pledges with mounds of salt.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 13, 2026

“Little by litde, were calling his life force out of the pit. With every recruit who pledges our cause, another small piece appears—” “That’s disgusting!”

From "The Sea of Monsters" by Rick Riordan

He has pledged, for instance, "the biggest council house building programme since the post war period."

From BBC ● Jul. 24, 2026

Leaders of India's youth-led "Cockroach" movement held a second round of talks with government officials on Friday, after Prime Minister Narendra Modi pledged legal reforms and swift punishment for those involved in exam paper leaks.

From Barron's ● Jul. 24, 2026

Campaigns scrambled to offer their own slates of delegates who they thought would be pledged to them.

From Slate ● Jul. 24, 2026

Both Lockheed and RTX, which makes the Patriot launcher system, have pledged to meet White House demands to triple or quadruple their output of some high-tech missiles over the coming years, the Journal said.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 23, 2026

Rivalries among Europe’s Great Powers had led to an elaborate network of military alliances, in which one nation pledged to support another in the event of war.

From "The War to End All Wars: World War I" by Russell Freedman

Despite the setbacks, Modi dominates national politics, and his government has sought to get ahead of the crisis, pledging legal reforms and swift punishment for those involved in exam paper leaks.

From Barron's ● Jul. 29, 2026

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convened his top defense officials in the wake of the incident, pledging to “act with full force against the terrorists and those who dispatch them.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026

At the same time, the U.S. is prioritizing strengthening its own domestic semiconductor ecosystem to maintain technological leadership, with Micron pledging over $250 billion in U.S. investment through 2035.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 18, 2026

It is, for example, contributing $1.6bn to the overall deal with Kenya, external - with the East African nation pledging $850m over five years.

From BBC ● Jul. 7, 2026

Catt also issued a public statement to the president pledging NAWSA’s support of the war effort and accepting Wilson’s invitation to serve on the Woman’s Committee of the Council of National Defense.

From "Votes for Women!" by Winifred Conkling

Related Words

• agreement
• assurance
• guarantee
• oath
• promise
• vow
• word