promissory note

See synonyms for promissory note on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. a written promise to pay a specified sum of money to a designated person, or to the bearer of the note, at a fixed time or on demand.

  2. a written promise to do or provide something, usually presented as a gift and claimable when or however the recipient chooses.

Origin of promissory note

1
First recorded in 1700–10

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use promissory note in a sentence

  • An unpaid promissory note is an executory contract, when paid it becomes an executed one.

  • If she will not, and if the promissory note should fall in my way, my revenge will doubtless take total possession of me.

    Clarissa, Volume 6 (of 9) | Samuel Richardson
  • It is thus "a human document" of considerable value, as well as a promissory note of future performance.

  • In that event Mrs. Arnold's promissory note to Rabofsky would be worth no more than the value of the securities he held.

    The Incendiary | W. A. (William Augustine) Leahy
  • In the case at bar, the defendant has given his promissory note to pay the plaintiff a sum of money on or before a certain day.

British Dictionary definitions for promissory note

promissory note

noun
  1. mainly US commerce a document, usually negotiable, containing a signed promise to pay a stated sum of money to a specified person at a designated date or on demand: Also called: note, note of hand

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012