Word.ws English Dictionary

break one's promise

break one's promise verb: to fail to keep or maintain an assurance, bond or commitment one has made.

Verb

break one's promise (third-person singular simple present breaks one's promise, present participle breaking one's promise, simple past broke one's promise, past participle broken one's promise)

  1. (idiomatic) To fail to keep or maintain an assurance, bond or commitment one has made.
    • (Are you gonna break your promise, baby?) / You said that you love me / (Are you gonna break your promise to me?) / Now you're actin' so strange, baby / (Are you gonna break your promise, baby?) / You said that you need me / (Are you gonna break your promise to me?)1968, The Delfonics, “Break Your Promise”, in La La Means I Love You
    Synonyms:
    go back on one's word, break one's word, renege on one's promise
    Antonyms:
    keep one's promise, stay true to one's word, be as good as one's word, deliver the goods

Synonyms of break one's promise

Antonyms

  • keep one's promise
  • stay true to one's word
  • be as good as one's word
  • deliver the goods

All synonyms and antonyms of break one's promise

Forms of break one's promise

third-person singular presentbreaks one's promise
present participlebreaking one's promise
pastbroke one's promise
past participlebroken one's promise

Questions about break one's promise

What does break one's promise mean?
Break one's promise means to fail to keep or maintain an assurance, bond or commitment one has made.
What part of speech is break one's promise?
Break one's promise is a verb.
What is the past tense of break one's promise?
The past tense of break one's promise is broke one's promise.

Words near break one's promise in the dictionary

  1. break one's fall
  2. break one's fast
  3. break one's lance
  4. break one's maiden
  5. break one's neck
  6. break one's promise
  7. break one's stride
  8. break one's word
  9. break open
  10. break out
  11. break point

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: break one's promise (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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