(~s, pledging, ~d)
Frequency: The word is one of the 3000 most common words in English.
1.
When someone makes a ~, they make a serious promise that they will do something.
The meeting ended with a ~ to step up cooperation between the six states of the region.
...a ?1.1m ~ of support from the Spanish ministry of culture.
= promise
N-COUNT: usu N to-inf
2.
When someone ~s to do something, they promise in a serious way to do it. When they ~ something, they promise to give it.
Mr Dudley has ~d to give any award to charity...
Philip ~s support and offers to help in any way that he can...
I ~ that by next year we will have the problem solved.
VERB: V to-inf, V n, V that
3.
If you ~ a sum of money to an organization or activity, you promise to pay that amount of money to it at a particular time or over a particular period.
The French President is pledging $150 million in French aid next year...
VERB: V n
•
Pledge is also a noun.
...a ~ of forty two million dollars a month.
N-COUNT: oft N of n
4.
If you ~ yourself to something, you commit yourself to following a particular course of action or to supporting a particular person, group, or idea.
The President ~d himself to increase taxes for the rich but not the middle classes...
The treaties renounce the use of force and ~ the two countries to co-operation.
= commit
VERB: V pron-refl to-inf, V n to n
5.
If you ~ something such as a valuable possession or a sum of money, you leave it with someone as a guarantee that you will repay money that you have borrowed.
He asked her to ~ the house as security for a loan.
VERB: V n