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.

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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

Bonta has said that Ellison’s pledge for the two studios to release 30 films a year wasn’t enough to end the legal wrangling because prosecutors often are powerless to enforce conditions after a deal closes.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 19, 2026

His administration persuaded Google, Microsoft, Meta, Oracle, xAI, OpenAI and Amazon to sign a voluntary pledge not to leave consumers paying for new power infrastructure.

From Barron's ● Sep. 16, 2026

Organizations that have said they would pledge capital toward supporting the country’s economic agenda include the Bank of Montreal and insurer Sun Life Financial, the Journal also reports.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 14, 2026

Thursday’s pledge made the president’s request more personal.

From Salon ● Sep. 12, 2026

He wondered if Spess would remember their mutual pledge that the winner would share the prize.

From "Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher" by Bruce Coville

But whether these governments follow through on these admittedly vague pledges, and whether that results in material change in the Middle East, is at least partly beside the point.

From Salon ● Sep. 14, 2026

She added, without giving details, that there had also been new pledges of desperately-needed air defence missiles for Ukraine.

From Barron's ● Sep. 2, 2026

The Times leads with pledges from the recently appointed Chancellor, John Healey, writing that he will set out a "clear path" on a 3% defence spending target.

From BBC ● Sep. 1, 2026

Critics of the plan want these pledges in writing, and McHugh said they are currently being formalized.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 16, 2026

Handsome realized how easy it was to make big generous pledges when he was not obliged to live up to them, so he went on.

From "The Very, Very Far North" by Dan Bar-el

And 10,000 is about the number of oak seedlings he’s entrusted to the hands of people who pledged to care for the tree that has become his mission and obsession.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 19, 2026

In a July earnings report, it highlighted “continued momentum” for its data-center sales and it pledged to ramp up production for large-megawatt backup generators.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 16, 2026

Altman and Amodei pledged to allow third-party safety evaluators early access to their systems, a rare truce in an industry often defined by animus between the top executives at the leading companies.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 14, 2026

Ministers have also pledged extra support beyond housing.

From BBC ● Sep. 13, 2026

Why did I bring that up when I had pledged to myself that I wouldn’t?

From "Silent To The Bone" by E.L. Konigsburg

Burnham referred to his father's experience when pledging social adult social care reforms in July, saying he wanted to help "my dad and the millions like him".

From BBC ● Sep. 14, 2026

Peru is pledging deeper military cooperation with American antidrug efforts.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 12, 2026

It acknowledged that data centers employ tens of thousands of union members while pledging to fight to keep AI from degrading job quality.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026

The PM is pledging to "take pressure off" businesses in an effort to calm corporate "jitters" ahead of the Budget, according to the Financial Times.

From BBC ● Aug. 26, 2026

But trying to imagine Katherine pledging herself to a life as a spinster doesn't quite fit.

From "Dread Nation" by Justina Ireland

Related Words

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