Promise vs Vow - What's the difference?
promise | vow |
An oath or affirmation; a vow.
A transaction between two persons whereby the first person undertakes in the future to render some service or gift to the second person or devotes something valuable now and here to his use.
* 1668 July 3rd, , “Thomas Rue contra'' Andrew Hou?toun” in ''The Deci?ions of the Lords of Council & Se??ion I (Edinburgh, 1683),
Reason to expect improvement or success; potential.
* Washington Irving
* {{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham), chapter=1
, title=(The China Governess) (computing, programming) A placeholder object that can be manipulated in code before it has been assigned a value.
(obsolete) Bestowal or fulfillment of what is promised.
* Bible, Acts i. 4
To commit to something or action; to make an oath; make a vow.
* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-22, volume=407, issue=8841, page=70, magazine=(The Economist)
, title= To give grounds for expectation, especially of something good.
* {{quote-book, year=1897, author=
, title=(The Celebrity), chapter=1 A solemn promise to perform some act, or behave in a specified manner, especially a promise to live and act in accordance with the rules of a religious order.
A declaration or assertion.
* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-14, author=
, volume=189, issue=1, page=37, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly)
, title= (ambitransitive) To make a vow; to promise.
* Bible, Eccl. v. 4
* Richard Baxter
To make a vow regarding (something).
To declare publicly that one has made a vow, usually to show one's determination or to announce an act of retaliation.
In transitive terms the difference between promise and vow
is that promise is to commit to something or action; to make an oath; make a vow while vow is to make a vow regarding (something).promise
English
Alternative forms
* promyseNoun
(en noun)pages 547–548
- He pur?ued Andrew Hou?toun upon his promi?e , to give him the like Sallary for the next year, and in ab?ence obtained him to be holden as confe?t and Decerned.
- My native country was full of youthful promise .
citation, passage=The original family who had begun to build a palace to rival Nonesuch had died out before they had put up little more than the gateway, so that the actual structure which had come down to posterity retained the secret magic of a promise rather than the overpowering splendour of a great architectural achievement.}}
- He commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father.
Verb
(promis)Engineers of a different kind, passage=Private-equity nabobs bristle at being dubbed mere financiers.
- The clouds promise rain.
citation, passage=I liked the man for his own sake, and even had he promised to turn out a celebrity it would have had no weight with me. I look upon notoriety with the same indifference as on the buttons on a man's shirt-front, or the crest on his note-paper.}}
Usage notes
* This is a catenative verb that takes the to infinitive . SeeSynonyms
*See also
* (election promise)Statistics
*External links
* *vow
English
Noun
(en noun)Sam Leith
Where the profound meets the profane, passage=Swearing doesn't just mean what we now understand by "dirty words". It is entwined, in social and linguistic history, with the other sort of swearing: vows and oaths. Consider for a moment the origins of almost any word we have for bad language – "profanity", "curses", "oaths" and "swearing" itself.}}
Usage notes
* One normally makes'' or ''takes'' a vow, or simply ''vows (see below). * Commonly mentioned vows include those of silence'', ''obedience'', ''poverty'', ''chastity'', and ''celibacy . * 'to keep/pay/fulfill a vow' = to honor a vow * 'to break a vow' = to dishonor a vowVerb
(en verb)- When thou vowest a vow unto God, defer not to pay it.
- We do not vow that we will never sin, nor neglect a duty (nor ought we to do so).
- The wronged woman vowed revenge.
- The rebels vowed to continue their fight.