I. vow 1 /vaʊ/ BrE AmE noun [countable]
[ Date: 1200-1300 ; Language: Old French ; Origin: vou , from Latin votum ; ⇨ ↑ vote 2 ]
1 . a serious promise ⇨ oath :
Jim made a vow that he would find his wife’s killer.
2 . a religious promise that you will do something for God, the church etc:
a monk who had taken a vow of poverty
3 . vows [plural]
a) ( also marriage/wedding vows ) the promises you make during your wedding
b) the promises you make when you become a Catholic priest or ↑ nun
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COLLOCATIONS
■ verbs
▪ make a vow
I made a vow never to go near the place again.
▪ take a vow (=make a vow at a formal ceremony)
Priests have to take a vow of obedience to the Catholic Church.
▪ keep a vow (=do as you promised)
She kept her vow not to tell anyone about their affair.
▪ break a vow (=fail to do as you promised)
She accused him of breaking his marriage vows.
▪ exchange vows (=make promises to each other as part of a wedding ceremony)
They wanted to exchange vows before their family and friends.
▪ renew your vows (=have a second wedding ceremony to repeat your promises)
Fifty couples celebrated their golden weddings and renewed their vows at a cathedral service in Chicago.
■ ADJECTIVES/NOUN + vow
▪ a solemn vow (=a very serious vow, which you must keep)
He made a solemn vow that he would do everything he could to help her.
▪ marriage/wedding vows
She wrote her own marriage vows.
▪ a holy/sacred vow
When we get married in church we are making sacred vows.
■ phrases
▪ a vow of silence/poverty/celibacy etc
People close to him have finally broken their vow of silence.
▪ be bound by a vow (=to have promised seriously to do something)
She told him she was bound by a vow not to tell any other person.
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THESAURUS
▪ promise a statement that you will definitely do or provide something, which may not be reliable:
‘I’ll call you tomorrow.’ ‘Is that a promise?’
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Politicians are always making promises.
▪ pledge a public or official promise to do a particular thing in the future:
The Government has fulfilled at least 50% of its election pledges.
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We have received pledges of help from various organizations.
▪ vow a very serious promise to do something or not to do something that you choose to make:
He made a vow never to drink alcohol again.
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your marriage vows
▪ oath a formal promise, especially one that someone makes in a court of law:
Witnesses swear a solemn oath to tell the truth.
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Public officials must take an oath to support the US Constitution.
▪ undertaking a serious or public promise to do something, especially something difficult which needs a lot of effort or money:
The police have given an undertaking to reduce street crime in the city centre.
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He was made to sign a written undertaking that he would not go within a mile of her house.
▪ assurance a promise that something will happen or is true, made so that someone is less worried or more confident:
You have my assurance that it won’t happen again.
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The manager gave me his personal assurance that the goods would be delivered today.
▪ guarantee a very definite promise that something will happen. A guarantee is also a formal written promise by a company to repair or replace a product free if it has a fault within a fixed period of time.:
With any diet, there’s no guarantee of success.
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I’m afraid I can’t give you a 100% guarantee.
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Is the camera still under guarantee (=within the period during which it can be repaired or replaced free) ?
II. vow 2 BrE AmE verb [transitive]
1 . to make a serious promise to yourself or someone else SYN promise
vow to do something
Supporters have vowed to continue the protest until Adams is released.
vow (that)
I vowed that I would never drink again.
2 . formal to make a religious promise that you will do something for God, the church etc
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THESAURUS
▪ promise to tell someone that you will definitely do something, or that something will happen:
He promised to give the book back.
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The organisers have promised that this year’s event will take place.
▪ swear to make a very serious and sincere promise, for example in a law court:
He had sworn to tell the truth.
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I would never do that, I swear.
▪ give somebody your word especially spoken to promise sincerely that you will do something or that something is true – often used when you are trying to persuade someone that they can trust you:
I give you my word that your money is safe with me.
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I’ll let you go out tonight if you give me your word that you’ll be home by 11.
▪ vow to make a very serious promise, often to yourself:
She vowed that she would never drink alcohol again.
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They vowed to carry on their campaign for justice.
▪ assure to promise someone that something will happen or that something is true, in order to try to make them feel less worried:
Police have assured the public that they are doing everything they can to find the killer.
▪ guarantee to promise that you will make sure that something will definitely happen, so that there is no question of it not happening:
I guarantee that you will have the documents by tomorrow.
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How can you guarantee that this won’t happen again?
▪ pledge to promise publicly or officially that you will do something, for example to give help or money:
The government has pledged to increase overseas aid to $4 billion over the next five years.
▪ undertake formal to make an official or legal promise to do something:
The government undertook to keep price increases to a minimum.
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The two sides undertook to respect each other’s territory.
▪ commit to something formal to make a firm and definite promise to do something important, which will affect you for a long time and which could result in serious effects if you fail:
Bobby felt unready to commit to a romantic relationship.
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A group of 11 companies has committed to developing a new passenger plane.