Link Centre Dictionary

pledge

UK/plɛd͡ʒ/ US/ˈplɛdʒ/ fairly common
verb (5) noun (4)

verb

1.

promise solemnly and formally

  • “I pledge that will honor my wife”
Synonyms
2.

pay (an amount of money) as a contribution to a charity or service, especially at regular intervals

  • “I pledged $10 a month to my favorite radio station”
Synonyms
3.

propose a toast to

  • “Let us toast the birthday girl!”
  • “Let”
Synonyms
4.

give as a guarantee

  • “I pledge my honor”
5.

bind or secure by a pledge

  • “I was pledged to silence”

noun

1.

a deposit of personal property as security for a debt

  • “his saxophone was in pledge”
2.

someone accepted for membership but not yet fully admitted to the group

3.

a drink in honor of or to the health of a person or event

Synonyms
4.

a binding commitment to do or give or refrain from something

  • “an assurance of help when needed”
  • “signed a pledge never to reveal the secret”
Synonyms

Origin

From Middle English plege, from Anglo-Norman plege, from Old French plege (Modern French pleige) from Medieval Latin plevium, plebium, from plebiō (“to pledge”), from Frankish *plehan (“to pledge; to support; to guarantee”). Akin to Old High German pflegan (“to take care of, be accustomed to”), Old Saxon plegan (“to vouch for”), Old English plēon (“to risk, endanger”). More at plight.

Phrases

  • dead pledge
  • negative pledge
  • pledge of allegiance
  • purity pledge
  • put in pledge
  • safe pledge
  • take the pledge

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

Narrower terms

Entails

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.