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Dictionary

Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

unpromise en · NOUN

Etymology

From un- + promise.

Meanings

  1. (uncountable, usually) Lack of promise; poor prospects; unpromising outlook.
    • I had God's promise that he was there to bring us into the land of promises, or unpromises. 2016, Dr. Minerva Santerre, A Bridge That Hugged Tomorrow:
    • So I was a writer of early unpromise. All my stories from the age of twelve until I was at least twenty-two were pretty bad. 2004, Ray Bradbury, Steven L. Aggelis, Conversations with Ray Bradbury, page 25:
    • To be sure, scholars have noted that occasionally heroines of the Cinderalla plot, known through folkloric classification as ATU 510, "gain all the time in determination and strength" through their sufferingg and "begin to lose their tag of unpromise and start shaping their lives and futures, at times, not without a little deception.” 2016, Christine A. Jones, Mother Goose Refigured:
    • The resulting brew did not smell promising, and the taste more than lived up to the unpromise. 2009, Liza Dalby, East Wind Melts the Ice: A Memoir Through the Seasons, page 222:

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
unpromises Number=Plur lexicographic

unpromise en · VERB

Etymology

From un- + promise.

Meanings

  1. (transitive) To revoke or annul (something promised before).
    • Promises are no fetters: with that tongue Thy promise past, unpromise it again. 1605, George Chapman, All Fools:
    • It wouldn't be a promise if you could just unpromise it. 2024, Sylvia Bishop ·, On Silver Tides:
    • "But I promised Annie we'd take them, Joseph." " Well , you're just going to have to unpromise her!" 2015, Ruth Price, Before An Amish Country Calamity:

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
unpromising Tense=Pres, VerbForm=Part lexicographic
unpromised Tense=Past, VerbForm=Part lexicographic
unpromised Tense=Past lexicographic
unpromises Number=Sing, Person=3, Tense=Pres lexicographic