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

This led to an investigation and, eventually, his termination from the university, ending a promising rise for the Razorbacks under Petrino. — Austin Perry Outkick, FOXNews.com, 18 Sep. 2026

Perhaps the most promising element of the Ebola response has been the relatively quick development of vaccines for the Bundibugyo virus. — Stephanie Psaki, Foreign Affairs, 18 Sep. 2026

Verb

In the past few months, a pair of promising heart drugs failed in clinical trials. — Adam Cohen, Oklahoman, 22 Sep. 2026

Because steady only works when leadership stops promising anything spectacular. — Richard Ceffalio, Forbes.com, 22 Sep. 2026