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Glite Dictionary
sugarcoated promise

sugarcoated promise

6.6
Nice words that make you expect something that probably will not happen
  • noun
translation icon : promesa engañosa
  • Voters are tired of politicians making sugarcoated promises they cannot keep.

Examples

  • The company lured investors with sugarcoated promises that turned out to be false.

  • She recognized his apology as just another sugarcoated promise with no real change behind it.

  • The politician made a sugarcoated promise to improve the economy.

  • Don't believe that sugarcoated promise from the sales rep!

  • Voters are tired of politicians making sugarcoated promises they cannot keep.

  • The company lured investors with sugarcoated promises that turned out to be false.

  • She recognized his apology as just another sugarcoated promise with no real change behind it.

Synonyms

empty promise
vssugarcoated promise
10 3.8

A promise someone makes without any plan to keep it

may be misleading but not necessarily made with no intent to be fulfilled
overpromise
vssugarcoated promise
5.3

A claim that something will be better than it can really be

is presented attractively to hide that outcomes are unlikely

How Likely

promise
∞ 1.0
sugarcoated promise
6.6
empty promise
10 3.8

Surface Forms

sugarcoated promise singular
sugarcoated promises plural

Morphology

sugarcoat + promise

The meaning is directly derivable from combining 'sugarcoat' (to present something more pleasant than reality) with 'promise' (an assurance), so it denotes a promise presented attractively and potentially misleading. This is a straightforward adjectival modification pattern and the 'sugarcoat' metaphor is cross-linguistically familiar, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents will likely understand it.

Etymology

Sugarcoated promise comes from the image of covering something bitter with sugar so it looks and tastes sweet. So a sugarcoated promise is a 'promise' that sounds nice but may be 'misleading' or 'not kept'.