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

The victory capped an unlikely rise to the top of the sport for the skater who was once one of the most promising young talents in the world but retired shortly after the 2022 Olympics and missed two seasons. — Zack Pierce, New York Times, 26 Aug. 2026

Civilizationism is thus best defined as a hierarchical and antiuniversalist grand strategy that views regional imperialism as the most legitimate and most promising way to order the world. — Leonard A. Schuette, Foreign Affairs, 25 Aug. 2026

Verb

Samba received two vials of antivenin, and initial blood work appeared promising. — Gagandeep Singh, Sacbee.com, 26 Aug. 2026

First Up Shares of Moderna retreated by nearly 24% Thursday on the heels of their record-setting 176% stock surge, which was prompted by promising news of their personalized cancer vaccine. — Danielle Chemtob, Forbes.com, 21 Aug. 2026