- present participle of promise.
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.
AI hyperscalers are sharing their data-center plans earlier and promising more transparency to win local support that’s proving hard to come by, Clara Hudson reports for The Wall Street Journal.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2026
Their findings offer a promising new approach to controlling quantum behavior and could eventually help engineers develop superconducting electronics that use far less energy while processing information more efficiently.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 16, 2026
But he also has a global profile, including in Africa, where Infantino recently received a major re-election boost when receiving the backing of all 54 member national associations after promising an increase in funding.
From BBC ● Oct. 15, 2026
Thompson pointed out that some bellwether healthcare names, like Eli Lilly, were trading near their highest levels in a year, a promising sign that healthcare stocks could continue to climb.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 15, 2026
Finally, there was the third, and the most promising character: the Consummate Professional.
From "The Mona Lisa Vanishes" by Nicholas Day
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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.
