What's the difference between pledge and swear?

Pledge


Definition:

  • (n.) The transfer of possession of personal property from a debtor to a creditor as security for a debt or engagement; also, the contract created between the debtor and creditor by a thing being so delivered or deposited, forming a species of bailment; also, that which is so delivered or deposited; something put in pawn.
  • (n.) A person who undertook, or became responsible, for another; a bail; a surety; a hostage.
  • (n.) A hypothecation without transfer of possession.
  • (n.) Anything given or considered as a security for the performance of an act; a guarantee; as, mutual interest is the best pledge for the performance of treaties.
  • (n.) A promise or agreement by which one binds one's self to do, or to refrain from doing, something; especially, a solemn promise in writing to refrain from using intoxicating liquors or the like; as, to sign the pledge; the mayor had made no pledges.
  • (n.) A sentiment to which assent is given by drinking one's health; a toast; a health.
  • (n.) To deposit, as a chattel, in pledge or pawn; to leave in possession of another as security; as, to pledge one's watch.
  • (n.) To give or pass as a security; to guarantee; to engage; to plight; as, to pledge one's word and honor.
  • (n.) To secure performance of, as by a pledge.
  • (n.) To bind or engage by promise or declaration; to engage solemnly; as, to pledge one's self.
  • (n.) To invite another to drink, by drinking of the cup first, and then handing it to him, as a pledge of good will; hence, to drink the health of; to toast.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) She was clearly elected on a pledge not to cut school funding and that’s exactly what is happening,” Corbyn said.
  • (2) The green fund contributions already announced (which include a $3bn pledge by the US and a $1.5bn pledge by Japan revealed during the G20 summit) “show very clearly that if we want the emerging countries and the more fragile countries to participate in this global growth, we have to ... support them,” Hollande said.
  • (3) Federal judges who blocked the bans cited harsh rhetoric employed by Trump on the campaign trail , specifically a pledge to ban all Muslims from entering the US and support for giving priority to Christian refugees, as being reflective of the intent behind his travel ban.
  • (4) Under pressure from many backbenchers, he has tightened planning controls on windfarms and pledged to "roll back" green subsidies on bills, leading to fears of dwindling support for the renewables industry.
  • (5) It also pledged support to a veterans’ group that rejected a request by a gay, lesbian and bisexual group to march in the St Patrick’s Day parade in Boston.
  • (6) We simply do whatever nature needs and will work with anyone that wants to help wildlife.” His views might come as a surprise to some of the RSPB’s 1.1 million members, who would have been persuaded by its original pledge “to discourage the wanton destruction of birds”; they would equally have been a surprise to the RSPB’s detractors in the shooting world.
  • (7) We are prepared to be honest with people and say that we will all need to chip in a little more.” The party’s health spokesman, Norman Lamb, said: “The NHS was once the envy of the world and this pledge is the first step in restoring it to where it should be.
  • (8) Royal Mail has pledged not to give Greene a large pay rise until after the current financial year, but the government's move follows Royal Mail chairman Donald Brydon telling the Daily Telegraph this week that Greene was the "lowest-paid chief executive in the FTSE 100" and that a rise in her pay was necessary to keep her.
  • (9) Well one of the things we have in common is we produce a lot of carbon … which means we’ve got to step up.” In the backrooms of the G20 meeting, Australia was continuing to resist language in the official communique encouraging countries to make pledges to the Green Climate Fund , but to a rousing reception at a local university, Obama announced the $3bn US commitment.
  • (10) Tim Farron has pledged to fight the next general election on a platform of taking the UK back into Europe .
  • (11) And when you said the pledge of allegiance in the morning, you had to look at those flags.
  • (12) But Sainsbury attacked government attempts to secure further pledges as a "total waste of time" given Pfizer's record of breaking promises in past takeovers.
  • (13) In a telling moment, 17 editors of both state and private newspapers collectively pledged in November to avoid criticising the state.
  • (14) Fenway, which also owns the Boston Red Sox baseball team, bought Liverpool for £300m in 2010 and pledged to return the club to the top of English football, following what was then a 20-year gap since the club last won the top flight.
  • (15) China INDC This would be “a key” to success of the UN climate talks, a French diplomatic official said, because the current national pledges won’t be enough to achieve the goal of keeping the rise in global temperatures below 2C between pre-industrial times and the end of the century.
  • (16) Climate change is also high on protesters’ and politicians’ agendas, and the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, called for the industrial powers to throw their weight behind a longstanding pledge to seek $100bn (£65bn) to help poor countries tackle climate change, agreed in Copenhagen in 2009.
  • (17) The party has also pledged to ensure that the wealthy make a greater contribution by restoring the 50p higher rate of income tax.
  • (18) Abbott's comments on Wednesday morning followed a pledge from Yudhoyono on Tuesday night to restore normal bilateral relations if Australia signed up to a new code of ethics on intelligence sharing.
  • (19) The media mogul said he had spoken "very carefully under oath" at the Leveson inquiry on Wednesday, when he had said that Brown had pledged to "declare war" on his company in a phone call made at around the time the Sun came out in support of the Conservative party, on 30 September of that year.
  • (20) "He has pledged to push for devolution of power to the north and east, and has said that the solution to the national question must have the agreement of all parties."

Swear


Definition:

  • (v. i.) To affirm or utter a solemn declaration, with an appeal to God for the truth of what is affirmed; to make a promise, threat, or resolve on oath; also, to affirm solemnly by some sacred object, or one regarded as sacred, as the Bible, the Koran, etc.
  • (v. i.) To give evidence on oath; as, to swear to the truth of a statement; he swore against the prisoner.
  • (v. i.) To make an appeal to God in an irreverant manner; to use the name of God or sacred things profanely; to call upon God in imprecation; to curse.
  • (v. t.) To utter or affirm with a solemn appeal to God for the truth of the declaration; to make (a promise, threat, or resolve) under oath.
  • (v. t.) To put to an oath; to cause to take an oath; to administer an oath to; -- ofetn followed by in or into; as, to swear witnesses; to swear a jury; to swear in an officer; he was sworn into office.
  • (v. t.) To declare or charge upon oath; as, he swore treason against his friend.
  • (v. t.) To appeal to by an oath.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) It’s no good me swearing on a Bible; I don’t share your faith.” Morrison said: “I will do it, Ray, but I think it’s a very offensive thing for you to ask me to do but I’ll do it if that’s what you require...if you insist I will.” Hadley did not persist with the demand.
  • (2) Perhaps he modified his language for the NY Times reporter, but the more likely explanation is that his swearing added nothing and was therefore omitted by the writer or edited out; in America, even in liberal New York, profanities still need to be argued into print.
  • (3) I swear you don't even like each other and yet you're helping each other out?'"
  • (4) A jury is empanelled, 11 of them swearing on the Bible, one on the Qur’an: six women, six men.
  • (5) When election strategists brought in to pour over Ghani’s speeches told him to swear off coffee on rally days to strengthen his voice, he gave up one of his very few indulgences immediately.
  • (6) A few years back, a survey of 3,000 11-year-olds revealed that nine out of 10 parents swear in front of their children, and the average kid heard six different expletives per week (whoever said profanity was bad for your vocabulary?).
  • (7) Asked if he would "swear it", Huhne replies: "Absolutely.
  • (8) • 1050 East Palm Canyon Drive (+1 760 323 1858, thehorizonhotel.com ); double rooms from $109 The Movie Colony Movie Colony, Palm Springs Concierge John-Michael swears that Jim Morrison made the leap from balcony to pool here in 1969, and that Frank Sinatra was a resident while his nearby home was being renovated – and even though the myth of celebrity tends to get overblown, if not utterly fabricated, in southern California, we found no reason not to take him at his word.
  • (9) Facebook Twitter Pinterest Sixtus ‘Baggio’ Leung and Yau Wai-ching with anti-China banners during their swearing-in ceremony.
  • (10) For a moment he sounds almost camp, but mainly he is solid, talking slowly in a deep voice, sometimes swearing for emphasis, rounding off his sentences "and so on and so forth".
  • (11) The limited swearing, which he does admit, and immediately apologised for, could preclude redemption by reshuffle in the court of parliament, even if it would not be fatal in a court of law.
  • (12) Israel has approved a massive new building programme of Jewish settlement homes in the occupied Palestinian territories , following hard on the heels of the swearing-in of the US president, Donald Trump.
  • (13) 6.37pm GMT Falcons 3 - Seahawks 0, 3:23 1st quarter I swear Ryan is calling out "street meat, street meat" on the line of scrimmage.
  • (14) Scott Morrison has said he was “offended” and “disappointed” that his friend the broadcaster Ray Hadley pressed him to swear an oath on the Bible to prove he was telling the truth about his actions in the Liberal leadership upheaval.
  • (15) "I have to say that if I had been wearing these glasses that day against England," he told the Daily Record in 2005, "then I swear they would only have scored about eight."
  • (16) To really be beloved in France he needs to learn to swear with the virtuosity of a Frenchman who's mislaid his linen Agnes B scarf in the Rue du Bac.
  • (17) Ghana had two players sent home, Sulley Muntari for hitting an official and Kevin-Prince Boateng for allegedly swearing at the coach.
  • (18) The video and audio recordings revealed the swearing in of ’Ndrangheta mobsters to an elite membership known as “Santa”.
  • (19) They swear a lot, but they don’t threaten to file a complaint.
  • (20) But learning how to ski in backcountry takes years, and can involve a lot of swearing and slapstick mishap.