Library / English Dictionary

PLEDGE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

A binding commitment to do or give or refrain from something

Example:

signed a pledge never to reveal the secret

Synonyms:

assurance; pledge

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Hypernyms ("pledge" is a kind of...):

commitment; dedication (a message that makes a pledge)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "pledge"):

guarantee; warrant; warrantee; warranty (a written assurance that some product or service will be provided or will meet certain specifications)

guarantee (an unconditional commitment that something will happen or that something is true)

plight; troth (a solemn pledge of fidelity)

vow (a solemn pledge (to oneself or to another or to a deity) to do something or to behave in a certain manner)

Derivation:

pledge (promise solemnly and formally)

pledge (bind or secure by a pledge)

Sense 2

Meaning:

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

Synonyms:

pledge; toast

Classified under:

Nouns denoting foods and drinks

Hypernyms ("pledge" is a kind of...):

drink (a single serving of a beverage)

Derivation:

pledge (propose a toast to)

Sense 3

Meaning:

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

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Hypernyms ("pledge" is a kind of...):

fellow member; member (one of the persons who compose a social group (especially individuals who have joined and participate in a group organization))

Sense 4

Meaning:

A deposit of personal property as security for a debt

Example:

his saxophone was in pledge

Classified under:

Nouns denoting possession and transfer of possession

Hypernyms ("pledge" is a kind of...):

security interest (any interest in a property that secures the payment of an obligation)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "pledge"):

pawn (an article deposited as security)

Derivation:

pledge (give as a guarantee)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Promise solemnly and formally

Example:

I pledge that I will honor my wife

Synonyms:

pledge; plight

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Hypernyms (to "pledge" is one way to...):

assure; promise (make a promise or commitment)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "pledge"):

vow (make a vow; promise)

guarantee; vouch (give surety or assume responsibility)

covenant (enter into a covenant or formal agreement)

covenant (enter into a covenant)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s that CLAUSE

Sentence example:

They pledge to move

Derivation:

pledge (a binding commitment to do or give or refrain from something)

pledger (someone who makes or gives a pledge)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Bind or secure by a pledge

Example:

I was pledged to silence

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Hypernyms (to "pledge" is one way to...):

bind; hold; obligate; oblige (bind by an obligation; cause to be indebted)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody PP

Derivation:

pledge (a binding commitment to do or give or refrain from something)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Give as a guarantee

Example:

I pledge my honor

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Hypernyms (to "pledge" is one way to...):

charge; consign (give over to another for care or safekeeping)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "pledge"):

collateralize (pledge as a collateral)

give (offer in good faith)

hypothecate (pledge without delivery or title of possession)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

pledge (a deposit of personal property as security for a debt)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Propose a toast to

Example:

Let's drink to the New Year

Synonyms:

drink; pledge; salute; toast; wassail

Classified under:

Verbs of eating and drinking

Hypernyms (to "pledge" is one way to...):

honor; honour; reward (bestow honor or rewards upon)

"Pledge" entails doing...:

booze; drink; fuddle; hit the bottle (consume alcohol)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "pledge"):

give (propose)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody

Derivation:

pledge (a drink in honor of or to the health of a person or event)

Sense 5

Meaning:

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

Example:

I pledged $10 a month to my favorite radio station

Synonyms:

pledge; subscribe

Classified under:

Verbs of buying, selling, owning

Hypernyms (to "pledge" is one way to...):

donate (give to a charity or good cause)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

pledger (someone who makes or gives a pledge)

Credits

 Context examples: 

She has consented: she has pledged her word.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Or you may have had good money coming in, but had pledged to help a family member financially, and it was leaving you feeling that life offered few areas of ease.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

I had a right to her. She was pledged to me years ago.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Hyde had a song upon his lips as he compounded the draught, and as he drank it, pledged the dead man.

(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

He forgot that in the covenant entered into between him and the gods they were pledged to care for him and defend him.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

The needful was comprised in Mr. Morland's promise; his honour was pledged to make everything easy; and by what means their income was to be formed, whether landed property were to be resigned, or funded money made over, was a matter in which her disinterested spirit took no concern.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

She was in a state of mind to be glad that she had secured her fate beyond recall: that she had pledged herself anew to Sotherton; that she was safe from the possibility of giving Crawford the triumph of governing her actions, and destroying her prospects; and retired in proud resolve, determined only to behave more cautiously to Mr. Rushworth in future, that her father might not be again suspecting her.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

It might have been done under such pledges as would have prevented him from speaking of it, and yet would have affected his thoughts in the direction indicated by his remarks to his fiancée.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I beg permission to have a few witnesses examined concerning my character, and if their testimony shall not overweigh my supposed guilt, I must be condemned, although I would pledge my salvation on my innocence.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

I'll try, Beth. and then and there Jo renounced her old ambition, pledged herself to a new and better one, acknowledging the poverty of other desires, and feeling the blessed solace of a belief in the immortality of love.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)