What's the difference between promise and undertaking?

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 .

Undertaking


Definition:

  • (p. pr. & vb. n.) of Undertake
  • (n.) The act of one who undertakes, or engages in, any project or business.
  • (n.) That which is undertaken; any business, work, or project which a person engages in, or attempts to perform; an enterprise.
  • (n.) Specifically, the business of an undertaker, or the management of funerals.
  • (n.) A promise or pledge; a guarantee.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) However, as the same task confronts the Lib Dems, do we not now have a priceless opportunity to bring the two parties together to undertake a fundamental rethink of the way social democratic principles and policies can be made relevant to modern society.
  • (2) But earlier this year the Unesco world heritage committee called for the cancellation of all such Virunga oil permits and appealed to two concession holders, Total and Soco International, not to undertake exploration in world heritage sites.
  • (3) Without that, and without undertaking big changes, the service's future may fall into doubt, he says.
  • (4) The performance of the instrument was evaluated by undertaking in vitro measurements of the reflectance spectra of blood.
  • (5) This work undertakes the study of changes in urinary, plasmatic and tissue levels of Thromboxane B2 (TXB2) as well as in tissue Prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) after pancreas transplantation and the effect of superoxide dismutase (SOD) on these changes.
  • (6) The surgeon must have an exact idea of this canal before undertaking operation for plastics of the hernial defect.
  • (7) So far, there is little sign of similar hubris at the Human Brain Project, a far more complex undertaking, but perhaps for the moment Markram's ambition is precisely what is needed.
  • (8) This report describes how the difficulties were surmounted, and how the National Technical Centre then proceeded to undertake activities to extend awareness of the ICIDH.
  • (9) Since the regime was introduced, we have been undertaking work to ensure that senior manager responsibilities are properly allocated and understood in firms.
  • (10) The questions facing nursing now are not whether nurses should undertake this role, but how well do they provide information?
  • (11) The prison suicide rate, at 120 deaths per 100,000 people, is about 10 times higher than the rate in the general population.” The report calls for a recently revised incentives and earned privileges regime to be scrapped and for an undertaking that prisoners with mental health problems or at known risk of suicide should never be placed in solitary.
  • (12) Additional reconstruction of the "donor" limb arteries and dilatation of the iliac artery improve circulation in the "donor limb", which makes it possible to undertake cross femoral-femoral shunting in patients with a high risk of aorto-femoral reconstruction in atherosclerotic affection of the "donor" limb.
  • (13) They were charged with undertaking acts in preparation or planning for a terrorist act.
  • (14) Despite the fact that this approach has several caveats, consistent results obtained in short-term studies would more readily justify the undertaking of a large-scale, long-term controlled study using colon cancer or adenomatous polyp recurrence as an endpoint.
  • (15) The chance discovery of an oesophageal localisation of Crohn's disease led the authors to undertake routine study of the oesophagus in their last 18 patients suffering from the disorder.
  • (16) Pedro is due in London on Wednesday to undertake a medical and discuss personal terms, with United having withdrawn their interest.
  • (17) Maybe this will be increasing the frequency of patrols, or going to places that the Obama administration has been hesitant to go – such as actually undertaking a non-innocent passage military patrols within 12 miles of an artificial island.
  • (18) He held out a hand to North Korea again, calling for it to denuclearise; and to Burma, if it undertakes democratic reform and frees political prisoners, including opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
  • (19) The judge noted the “seriousness of these offences and impact on road traffic, particularly given the number of fines previously issued against BT by TfL for similar offences.” Firms undertaking work anywhere in London need a permit before digging up the roads, allowing highway authorities to coordinate work to minimise disruption.
  • (20) Prior to undertaking the exploration of phenomena in a research study with people from different cultures, certain elements must be addressed in order to bridge cultural and linguistic differences.