Promise vs. Token — What's the Difference?

A promise is a commitment by someone to do or not do something. As a noun promise means a declaration assuring that one will or will not do something.

Something serving as an indication, proof, or expression of something else; a sign

A declaration or assurance that one will do something or that a particular thing will happen

Something that signifies or evidences authority, validity, or identity

The quality of potential excellence

A specific instance of a phenomenon or a class of things, as of a linguistic feature in a sample of a person's speech, that can be isolated for study or analysis.

Assure someone that one will definitely do something or that something will happen

A person who is considered as representative of a social group, such as a lone individual or one of a small number of employees hired primarily to prevent an employer from being accused of discrimination.

Give good grounds for expecting (a particular occurrence)

A keepsake or souvenir.

A declaration assuring that one will or will not do something; a vow.

A piece of stamped metal used as a substitute for currency

Something promised.

A small electronic device issued to a user to serve as proof of identity, as for the purpose of accessing a network.

Indication of something favorable to come; expectation

A piece of software that serves as proof of the user's identity.

Indication of future excellence or success

To betoken or symbolize; portend.

To commit oneself by a promise to do or give; pledge

Done as an indication or pledge

To afford a basis for expecting

Perfunctory; minimal

To make a declaration assuring that something will or will not be done.

Being a product of tokenism; merely symbolic

To afford a basis for expectation

Something serving as an expression of something else.

(countable) an oath or affirmation; a vow

A keepsake.

(countable) A transaction between two persons whereby the first person undertakes in the future to render some service or gift to the second person or devotes something valuable now and here to his use.

A piece of stamped metal or plastic, etc., used as a substitute for money; a voucher that can be exchanged for goods or services.

(uncountable) Reason to expect improvement or success; potential.

A small physical object, often designed to give the appearance of a common thing, used to represent a person or character in a board game or other situation.

A placeholder object representing the eventual result of an asynchronous operation.

A minor attempt for appearance's sake, or to minimally comply with a requirement.

Bestowal or fulfillment of what is promised

A member of a group of people that is included within a larger group to comply with a legal or social requirement.

(ambitransitive) To commit to (some action or outcome), or to assure (a person) of such commitment; to make an oath or vow.

Evidence, proof; a confirming detail; physical trace, mark, footprint.

(intransitive) To give grounds for expectation, especially of something good.

Support for a belief; grounds for an opinion.

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.

An extraordinary event serving as evidence of supernatural power.

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.

An object or disclosure to attest or authenticate the bearer or an instruction.

That which causes hope, expectation, or assurance; especially, that which affords expectation of future distinction; as, a youth of great promise.

A seal guaranteeing the quality of an item.

Bestowal, fulfillment, or grant of what is promised.

Something given or shown as a symbol or guarantee of authority or right; a sign of authenticity, of power, good faith.

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.

A tally.

To afford reason to expect; to cause hope or assurance of; as, the clouds promise rain.

(philosophy) A particular thing to which a concept applies.

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.

(computing) An atomic piece of data, such as a word, for which a meaning may be inferred during parsing.

To give assurance by a promise, or binding declaration.

(computing) A conceptual object that can be possessed by a computer, process, etc. in order to regulate a turn-taking system such as a token ring network.

To afford hopes or expectation; to give ground to expect good; rarely, to give reason to expect evil.

(computing) A meaningless placeholder used as a substitute for sensitive data.

A verbal commitment by one person to another agreeing to do (or not to do) something in the future

(grammar) A lexeme; a basic, grammatically indivisible unit of a language such as a keyword, operator or identifier.

Grounds for feeling hopeful about the future;

(corpus linguistics) A single example of a certain word in a text or corpus.

Make a promise or commitment

(medical) A characteristic sign of a disease or of a bodily disorder, a symptom; a sign of a bodily condition, recovery, or health.

Promise to undertake or give;

A livid spot upon the body, indicating, or supposed to indicate, the approach of death.

Make a prediction about; tell in advance;

(printing) Ten and a half quires, or, commonly, 250 sheets, of paper printed on both sides; also, in some cases, the same number of sheets printed on one side, or half the number printed on both sides.

Give grounds for expectations;

(mining) A bit of leather having a peculiar mark designating a particular miner. Each hewer sent one of these with each corf or tub he had hewn.

(mining) A thin bed of coal indicating the existence of a thicker seam at no great distance.

(rail transport) A physical object used for exchange between drivers and signalmen on single track lines.

(weaving) In a loom, a colored signal to show the weaver which shuttle to use.

(Church of Scotland) A piece of metal given beforehand to each person in the congregation who is permitted to partake of the Lord's Supper.

Done as an indication or a pledge.

Perfunctory or merely symbolic; done or existing for appearance's sake, or to minimally comply with a requirement.

(of people) Included in minimal numbers in order to create an impression or illusion of diversity, especially ethnic or gender diversity.

To betoken, indicate, portend, designate, denote

To betroth

(philosophy) To symbolize, instantiate

Something intended or supposed to represent or indicate another thing or an event; a sign; a symbol; as, the rainbow is a token of God's covenant established with Noah.

A memorial of friendship; something by which the friendship of another person is to be kept in mind; a memento; a souvenir.

Something given or shown as a symbol or guarantee of authority or right; a sign of authenticity, of power, good faith, etc.

A piece of metal intended for currency, and issued by a private party, usually bearing the name of the issuer, and redeemable in lawful money. Also, a coin issued by government, esp. when its use as lawful money is limited and its intrinsic value is much below its nominal value.

A livid spot upon the body, indicating, or supposed to indicate, the approach of death.

Ten and a half quires, or, commonly, 250 sheets, of paper printed on both sides; also, in some cases, the same number of sheets printed on one side, or half the number printed on both sides.

A piece of metal given beforehand to each person in the congregation who is permitted to partake of the Lord's Supper.

A bit of leather having a peculiar mark designating a particular miner. Each hewer sends one of these with each corf or tub he has hewn.

In a Jacquard loom, a colored signal to show the weaver which shuttle to use.

To betoken.

An individual instance of a type of symbol;

A metal or plastic disk that can be used (as a substitute for coins) in slot machines

Something of sentimental value

Insignificantly small; a matter of form only (`tokenish' is informal);