Synonyms of promising

promising 1 of 2

adjective

ˈprä-mə-siŋ 

1

as in bright

having qualities which inspire hope

a promising writer who just may write the great American novel someday

Synonyms & Similar Words

• bright
• optimistic
• hopeful
• encouraging
• likely
• propitious
• rosy
• auspicious
• upbeat
• golden
• heartening
• fair
• positive
• favorable
• reassuring
• good
• confident
• roseate
• doubtless
• comforting
• sure
• rose-colored
• decisive
• soothing
• assured
• cheering
• bullish
• unhesitating
• beamish
• eupeptic

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• unlikely
• desperate
• dark
• discouraging
• unpromising
• hopeless
• dismal
• bleak
• gloomy
• pessimistic
• depressing
• inauspicious
• dreary
• disheartening
• uncertain
• doubtful
• dubious
• cheerless
• negative
• unpropitious
• unfavorable
• downbeat
• comfortless
• unencouraging
• grim
• gray
• miserable
• bearish
• wretched
• glum
• funereal

2

as in encouraging

pointing toward a happy outcome

all the signs for the new business are promising

Synonyms & Similar Words

• encouraging
• favorable
• bright
• hopeful
• happy
• golden
• lucky
• propitious
• auspicious
• beneficial
• heartening
• fortunate
• profitable
• advantageous
• prosperous
• fortuitous
• providential
• salutary

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• discouraging
• unfavorable
• unpromising
• hopeless
• dim
• inauspicious
• unfortunate
• disheartening
• unpropitious
• unhappy
• unlucky
• disastrous
• fatal
• catastrophic
• ruinous
• futureless
• calamitous
• threatening
• dark
• ominous
• sinister
• ill
• gloomy
• menacing
• dire
• portentous
• baleful
• direful
• foreboding
• minatory
• ill-boding
• doomy

promising

2 of 2

verb

present participle of promise

1

as in vowing

to make a solemn declaration of intent

they promised to keep in touch with us after they moved away

Synonyms & Similar Words

• vowing
• swearing
• pledging
• insisting
• agreeing
• ensuring
• covenanting
• guaranteeing
• undertaking
• giving one's word
• declaring
• consenting
• assenting
• acceding
• affirming
• engaging
• betrothing
• affiancing
• asserting
• plighting
• trothing
• contracting
• averring
• avowing
• warranting
• avouching

2

as in predicting

to show signs of a favorable or successful outcome

given the cast, the new sitcom promises to be an excellent show

Synonyms & Similar Words

• predicting
• warning
• hinting
• indicating
• anticipating
• boding
• suggesting
• foreboding
• auguring
• forecasting
• bidding fair
• presaging
• foretelling
• foreseeing
• implying
• prophesying
• forewarning
• prognosticating
• portending
• foreshadowing
• signifying
• intimating
• divining
• prefiguring
• betokening
• alluding
• foreknowing
• connoting
• presignifying
• harbingering
• insinuating

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of promising

Adjective

Initial tests look promising, so researchers are lining up roofs, walls, windows and even hot-water and AC modules as the next stops. — New Atlas, 18 Oct. 2026

The preseason offered some promising moments, other confounding connections between new teammates and a strong foundation for the new-look team hoping to keep growing through an 82-game season. — Los Angeles Times, 17 Oct. 2026

Verb

Corral has no crystal ball, but the early omens are promising after Casey Bloys signed a new multiyear deal to oversee HBO Max and Paramount+ in a new role at Skydance. — Etan Vlessing, HollywoodReporter, 21 Oct. 2026

With stars, form, and strategic geniuses on both sides, today's face-off is promising to be a game for the ages. — Jibin Joseph, PC Magazine, 20 Oct. 2026