take/sign the pledge
pledge
verb[ T ]
uk /pledʒ/ us /pledʒ/
to make a serious or formal promise to give or do something: 发誓;保证
We are asking people to pledge their support for our campaign.我们正请求人们承诺支持我们的运动。
If you join the armed forces, you have to pledge allegiance to your country.如果参军，你必须宣誓效忠你的祖国。
So far, £50,000 has been pledged (= people have promised to pay this amount) in response to the appeal.到目前为止，人们已承诺捐款5万英镑以响应这项呼吁。
[ + to infinitive ]Both sides have pledged to end the fighting.双方均已保证停战。
I've been pledged to secrecy.我已发誓保守秘密。

Thesaurus: synonyms, antonyms, and examples

to promise someone something
promiseI promise that I'll be home before dark.
guaranteeI can't guarantee that the operation will be successful.
give (someone) your wordHe gave me his word that the job would be finished on time.
assure"Don't worry, your car will be ready tomorrow", the mechanic assured him.
swearI didn't know what happened, I swear.
pledgeWe are asking people to pledge their support for our campaign.
The government has pledged to reduce the amount of chemicals used in food production.政府承诺减少食品生产中化学制品的用量。
The president pledged to respect the existing frontiers between the two countries.总统承诺维持两国间疆界现状。
He pledged undying love/loyalty.他发誓他的爱／忠诚至死不渝。
The minister has pledged his whole-hearted support for the scheme.
Both Britain and the United States are pledging their support for the campaign.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Making & breaking promises & commitments
assurance
be on your honouridiom
bond
breach of contract
commit someone to something
commitment
committed
cross my heart (and hope to die)idiom
deliver on something
fink
fink out
oath
pact
promises, promises!idiom
promisor
promissory
repledge
restrictive covenant
sworn
vow

pledge | American Dictionary

pledge
noun[ C ]
us/pledʒ/
a formal promise, or something that is given as a sign that you will keep a promise:
a pledge of friendship
The telethon raised $150,000 in pledges for leukemia research.

pledge | Business English

pledge
verb[ T ]
uk /pledʒ/us
to make a formal promise to do something:
pledge to do sthThe UK chief executive has pledged to slash costs by £150m a year by 2014.
pledge $32m/£100,000, etc. to/for sthEU leaders pledged $1.2 billion to the region over the next 18 months.
pledge that sthHe pledged that a reduction in the burden of taxation will become the central economic objective of the government.
LAW
to give something valuable to a person or organization that has lent you money, which they can keep if you fail to pay back the loan:
pledge sth as collateral/securityShares are frequently pledged as collateral for loans.
pledge
noun[ C ]
uk /pledʒ/us
a formal promise to do something:
a campaign/election/manifesto pledge
a pledge to do sthAnalysts warn that OPEC's pledge to ramp up oil production in order to ease record crude prices will not have the desired effect.
make/honour/sign a pledgeCampaigners have accused Congress of failing to honour its US funding pledges.
a pledge that sthTheir goal of increasing electricity production from renewables by 40% has been reinforced by a pledge that they will not support further development of nuclear power.
LAW
something valuable that is given to a person or organization that has lent you money, which they can keep if you fail to pay back the loan:
Serious financial irregularities took place, including the pledge of already paid-for securities.

Examples of pledge

pledge
Yet, even with salvation at hand, the incorrigibles refused to take the pledge.
Even if one did not make him responsible for his deeds by pledging insanity, the virtue of wisdom and therefore dignity would be lost.
The combination of the structure of the pledge period (described below) and alcohol can easily lead to unsafe behavior.
These included the need to keep up and encourage levels of voluntary subscription, and the desire to avoid responsibility for the enormously successful recruitment pledges.
In short, besides being necessary combustibles for the inhalation cure, inalienable possessions are also pledges of their owner's responsibility for scaring the victim.
They make pledges, take blood oaths, and form compacts to resist the landlords.
The citizenry therefore discounts its pledges and instead focuses on its actual performance.
He released some of them to bring in the relatives of the rest on the pledge that they all would be set at liberty.
Given this definition, we see that the electroacoustic community has already pledged allegiance to transcendence.
We pledge ourselves that the records shall be as correct as human ability can make them.
The answer to this may be that the president is in fact making a different pledge and using a code to maintain diplomatic niceties.
And whereas they had no town as their allodial property, and only two as fiefs, they held twenty-one towns or fractions in pledge.
The king's second effort was a pledge that he would not use his powers of imprisonment in future against those who refused requests for loans.
It is not surprising, therefore, that princes sometimes found themselves presiding over the complete alienation of pledge objects from their domain.
Aldermen, vestrymen and the governors of guilds solemnly pledged not to scatter ' secret ' matters abroad.
These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.