What's the difference between earnest and promise?

Earnest


Definition:

  • (n.) Seriousness; reality; fixed determination; eagerness; intentness.
  • (a.) Ardent in the pursuit of an object; eager to obtain or do; zealous with sincerity; with hearty endeavor; heartfelt; fervent; hearty; -- used in a good sense; as, earnest prayers.
  • (a.) Intent; fixed closely; as, earnest attention.
  • (a.) Serious; important.
  • (v. t.) To use in earnest.
  • (n.) Something given, or a part paid beforehand, as a pledge; pledge; handsel; a token of what is to come.
  • (n.) Something of value given by the buyer to the seller, by way of token or pledge, to bind the bargain and prove the sale.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) "For a better world, not only for the Iranian people but for the next generation across the globe, I earnestly hope that President Rouhani will receive a warm welcome and meaningful responses during his visit to the UN."
  • (2) Tragedy was averted because there was a little delay as the prayers did not commence in earnest and the bomb strapped to the body of the girl went off and killed her,” he added.
  • (3) However, despite repeated questions from reporters, Earnest did not rule out Obama approving fast-track without TAA if that combination somehow made it through procedural hurdles in the Senate.
  • (4) There's something very earnest about the build up to this MLS Cup final, as if the battle on the field between Sporting Kansas City and Real Salt Lake starts with a competition to see which team can "respect" the other one more fiercely.
  • (5) But at the same time, there is an earnest side to it all.
  • (6) Earnest confirmed some departures were likely as “members of the president’s staff to use the opportunity of the election” to leave the White House and “sort of engage in a transition”, but he rejected suggestions of a cull of big names.
  • (7) This begins in earnest after the 6-week assessment, which can provide information on which to base an exercise prescription.
  • (8) While Obama said in a written statement that he was “deeply disturbed” by the footage of Laquan’s shooting, spokesman Josh Earnest was reluctant to criticize Emanuel’s handling of the situation when pressed by reporters last week on whether the mayor should resign.
  • (9) Dean Garfield, president and CEO of tech business lobbying group and thinktank the Information Technology Industry Council, opened his address to the US-China Internet Industry Forum (where Xi was in attendance) in Silicon Valley on Wednesday thus: “We live in a world where the list of societal challenges is long, and getting longer, but where the collective collaboration between the United States and China is just, say, suboptimal.” Earnest said further that talk from Chinese officials on this subject was cheap.
  • (10) We believe that an open society with the highest possible degree of autonomy, and governed by the rule of law, is essential for Hong Kong’s stability and prosperity,” spokesman Josh Earnest said.
  • (11) Lobbying for the job of BBC director general of the BBC is expected to begin in earnest following MediaGuardian's revelation late on Thursday that Thompson was planning to step down at the end of the year or the beginning of 2013.
  • (12) International monitoring of the ICIDH has begun in earnest.
  • (13) Yet, there is no doubt that All Star has been targeted for its specific qualities – the main ones being its feelgood nostalgia value and a laughably exuberant pop-punk style that feels totally earnest.
  • (14) Earnest insisted that a review into the delivery of aid to Egypt had not yet concluded, and said it was "inaccurate to suggest that we've cut off aid to Egypt".
  • (15) I wouldn’t rule out the possibility of an endorsement [by Obama] in the Democratic primary,” White House press secretary Josh Earnest said in late August.
  • (16) Earnest, outlining Obama’s longstanding thinking about launching new air strikes in Iraq, noted that protecting US personnel was a core concern for the US president.
  • (17) I was asked to do it, but I thought it would be difficult to stay out of the fight on this, given that I really …” The Guardian view on Labour and Europe: voice of the nation time | Editorial Read more Johnson interrupts himself whenever he feels in danger of saying something that might sound too earnest.
  • (18) To the sound of an acoustic guitar and an earnest vocal, it opens with footage of a lonely Ed Miliband, wandering the dark, deserted streets of Westminster.
  • (19) Saying that he did not know more about the data destruction beyond what has been reported, Earnest said it was "hard for me to evaluate the propriety of that."
  • (20) White House press secretary Josh Earnest framed Clancy’s appointment as “in some ways the best of both worlds”.

Promise


Definition:

  • (a.) In general, a declaration, written or verbal, made by one person to another, which binds the person who makes it to do, or to forbear to do, a specified act; a declaration which gives to the person to whom it is made a right to expect or to claim the performance or forbearance of a specified act.
  • (a.) An engagement by one person to another, either in words or in writing, but properly not under seal, for the performance or nonperformance of some particular thing. The word promise is used to denote the mere engagement of a person, without regard to the consideration for it, or the corresponding duty of the party to whom it is made.
  • (a.) That which causes hope, expectation, or assurance; especially, that which affords expectation of future distinction; as, a youth of great promise.
  • (a.) Bestowal, fulfillment, or grant of what is promised.
  • (v. t.) To engage to do, give, make, or to refrain from doing, giving, or making, or the like; to covenant; to engage; as, to promise a visit; to promise a cessation of hostilities; to promise the payment of money.
  • (v. t.) To afford reason to expect; to cause hope or assurance of; as, the clouds promise rain.
  • (v. t.) To make declaration of or give assurance of, as some benefit to be conferred; to pledge or engage to bestow; as, the proprietors promised large tracts of land; the city promised a reward.
  • (v. i.) To give assurance by a promise, or binding declaration.
  • (v. i.) To afford hopes or expectation; to give ground to expect good; rarely, to give reason to expect evil.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Yet the Tory promise of fiscal rectitude prevailed in England Alexander had been in charge of Labour’s election strategy, but he could not strategise a victory over a 20-year-old Scottish nationalist who has not yet taken her finals.
  • (2) The HTCA is promising as a potential tool for studying the biology of tumors.
  • (3) David Cameron last night hit out at his fellow world leaders after the G8 dropped the promise to meet the historic aid commitments made at Gleneagles in 2005 from this year's summit communique.
  • (4) The success in these two infertile patients who had already undergone lengthy psychotherapy is promising.
  • (5) Measuring this value therefore is a very promising procedure.
  • (6) The Coalition promises to add more misery to their lives.
  • (7) Meanwhile Ed Miliband, the Labour leader, waiting anxiously for news of the scale of the Labour advance in his first nationwide electoral test, will urge the electorate not to be duped by the promise of a coalition mark 2, predicting sham concessions by the Conservatives .
  • (8) John Lewis’s marketing, advertising and reputation are all built on their promises of good customer services, and it is a large part of what still drives people to their stores despite cheaper online outlets.
  • (9) On the basis of reports in the literature and of our own clinical experience it appears that melanocyte inhibiting factor (MIF) is a very promising therapeutic agent in the management of Parkinson's disease.
  • (10) Since the employment of microwave energy for defrosting biological tissues and for microwave-aided diagnosis in cryosurgery is very promising, the problem of ensuring the match between the contact antennas (applicators) and the frozen biological object has become a pressing one.
  • (11) The 20-25 year-old cohort was found to yield the most promising results; however, a statistical difference was not found to exist using the volume or area.
  • (12) The arrest of the Washington Post’s Tehran correspondent Jason Rezaian and his journalist wife, Yeganeh Salehi, as well as a photographer and her partner, is a brutal reminder of the distance between President Hassan Rouhani’s reforming promises and his willingness to act.
  • (13) The use of a new ultraviolet laser combined with a holographic grating spectrograph promises to increase the number of fluorescing species that can be detected simultaneously.
  • (14) So is the mock courtroom promising “justice and fairness”.
  • (15) But that promise was beginning to startle the markets, which admire Monti’s appetite for austerity and fear the free spending and anti-European views of some Italian politicians.
  • (16) Healthbars such as Nakd fit this category and promise to deliver one of your five a day, based on the quantity of freeze-dried date paste used.
  • (17) The most promising method was chemoradiotherapy using multifractionation of a daily dose of irradiation, the 4-year survival rate of 20% being achieved.
  • (18) Trials of these therapeutic schemes promise a higher efficacy of the therapeutic measures for gastroesophageal reflux.
  • (19) The glory lay in the defiance, although the outcome of the tie scarcely looks promising for Arsenal when the return at Camp Nou next Tuesday is borne in mind.
  • (20) One of the big sticking points is cash – with rich countries so far failing to live up to promise to mobilise $100bn a year by 2020 for climate finance .