to outpromise

1 8.2

Say you will do more than someone else, often in a way that is hard to believe

verb
/aʊtˈprɒmɪs/

: prometer más

Can you really outpromise everyone at the meeting?

Examples

The two companies continued to outpromise each other with new features for their products.
During the campaign, each politician tried to outpromise the others to win more votes.
It is easy to outpromise your competitors, but harder to deliver on those promises.
He always outpromises his competitors.
In the election, the candidate tried to outpromise his opponents by making grander commitments to the public.
During the debate, she claimed she could outpromise anyone when it came to healthcare reform.
He constantly tries to outpromise his colleagues, often making unrealistic claims about what he can deliver.

Synonyms

to overpromise

vsto outpromise

3 5.0

Say you will do more than you can really do

aims to exceed others by offering larger, often exaggerated commitments

to promise the moon

vsto outpromise

Informal

2 6.8

Tell someone you will do something very big although you cannot do it

seeks to surpass others by making bigger unrealistic claims

How Much

to overpromise

3 5.0

to outpromise

1 8.2

to promise

∞ 1.0

Surface Forms

outpromise infinitive

outpromised past

outpromised past participle

outpromising present participle

outpromises third person singular

Morphology

outpromise = promise (transparent) = out + promise

'out-' meaning 'do more than' is a productive comparative prefix and the meaning of 'outpromise' is directly derived from 'out' + 'promise'.

Etymology

Outpromise is made of the prefix out- meaning 'more than' and the word promise, so it literally means to 'promise more' than someone else. That's why to outpromise often suggests making bigger, sometimes unrealistic promises that may be hard to keep.