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

The authors recommend stronger marketing limits, particularly for promotions aimed at children, digital advertising, and brand-level marketing.

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In a routine polygraph examination as part of a sought promotion, one of her subordinates said Gen. Tomer-Yerushalmi had directed her spokesperson to leak the film and that other senior staff officers knew this.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

When a promotion is at stake, a professor is often inclined to soften his marks for fear of a bad write-up.

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He is now on the verge of being promoted to the second-highest rank of Ozeki, in what would be the fastest promotion in history.

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He arrived in Japan two months later and made a blistering start to his career, reaching sumo's upper divisions in only a year and winning promotion to the fourth-highest rank.

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