Quranic root
وعد
w · ʿ · d
A verbal expression of expectation raised by speech: a stated promise or threat concerning a future outcome.
The root develops from verbally holding out a good or bad prospect to promises, threats, mutual appointments, appointed times or places, and things regarded as promising a future result.
- Maqāyīs · row 5153
- Mufradāt · row 1591
- 10
- Quran-attested forms
- 15
- Quran senses
- 151
- Quran occurrences
Forms in the Quran
The forms this root actually takes in the Quran. Select one to jump to its senses and examples.
وَعَدَ
waʿada
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form I
- Form
- I
- Quran occurrences
- 70 occurrences
Selected examples are shown with the sense they illustrate — chosen to teach that sense, not the complete list of this form’s Quran occurrences.
To promise or hold out a future outcome, whether beneficial or harmful.
The object may be the person promised and the promised matter; the form is used for promises of good and, in context, announcements of harm.
- Lane · entry 45451
- Mufradāt · row 1591
Selected Quran examples
Quran 2:268word 2
“promises you”
To threaten or menace with evil.
This threatening use is determined by the harmful object or context; it is distinct from the specialized noun وَعِيدٌ, which denotes a threat.
- Lane · entry 45451
- Mufradāt · row 1591
Selected Quran examples
Quran 11:32word 9
“you threaten us (with)”
وَاعَدَ
wāʿada
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form III
- Form
- III
- Quran occurrences
- 4 occurrences
Selected examples are shown with the sense they illustrate — chosen to teach that sense, not the complete list of this form’s Quran occurrences.
To make a mutual promise, each party promising the other.
The construction is reciprocal; in the Quran it includes making an agreement or promise with another party.
- Lane · entry 45452
- Mufradāt · row 1591
Selected Quran examples
Quran 2:235word 20
“promise them (widows)”
To arrange a mutually agreed time or place with another.
The second participant and the agreed time or place may be expressed in the construction.
- Lane · entry 45452
- Mufradāt · row 1591
Selected Quran examples
Quran 2:51word 2
“We appointed”
أَوْعَدَ
ʾawʿada
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form IV
- Form
- IV
- Quran occurrences
- 1 occurrence
Selected examples are shown with the sense they illustrate — chosen to teach that sense, not the complete list of this form’s Quran occurrences.
To threaten, menace, or warn of evil.
This Form IV usage is specifically associated with threatening; its verbal noun إِيعَادٌ and the noun وَعِيدٌ denote the threat or threatening.
- Lane · entry 45453
- Mufradāt · row 1591
Selected Quran examples
Quran 7:86word 5
“threatening”
تَوَاعَدَ
tawāʿada
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form VI
- Form
- VI
- Quran occurrences
- 1 occurrence
Selected examples are shown with the sense they illustrate — chosen to teach that sense, not the complete list of this form’s Quran occurrences.
To make a mutual promise or appointment.
The construction is reciprocal and can concern an agreed time or place; lexicographic usage also allows mutual promises of good and, by contrast, mutual threats.
- Lane · entry 45455
- Mufradāt · row 1591
Selected Quran examples
Quran 8:42word 12
“you (had) made an appointment”
مَوْعُودٌ
mawʿūdun
- Part of speech
- Passive participle
- Quran occurrences
- 1 occurrence
Selected examples are shown with the sense they illustrate — chosen to teach that sense, not the complete list of this form’s Quran occurrences.
Promised or appointed; designated as the object of a promise.
In the Quranic expression الْيَوْمُ الْمَوْعُودُ, it refers to the promised day, understood as the Day of Resurrection.
- Lane · entry 45465
- Mufradāt · row 1591
Selected Quran examples
Quran 85:2word 2
“Promised”
مَوْعِدٌ
mawʿidun
- Part of speech
- Noun
- Quran occurrences
- 12 occurrences
Selected examples are shown with the sense they illustrate — chosen to teach that sense, not the complete list of this form’s Quran occurrences.
An appointed time or place for a meeting or event.
The noun may designate either the time or the place fixed by an agreement or promise.
- Mufradāt · row 1591
- Lane · entry 45452
Selected Quran examples
Quran 20:58word 7
“an appointment”
Quran 20:87word 4
“promise to you”
A covenant or compact.
This Quran-attested interpretation presents the موعد as an agreement or binding compact; Lane’s cited Quran reference is retained as reported and is not converted into a modern verse location.
- Lane · entry 45463
- Mufradāt · row 1591
مَوْعِدَةٌ
mawʿidahun
- Part of speech
- Noun
- Quran occurrences
- 1 occurrence
Selected examples are shown with the sense they illustrate — chosen to teach that sense, not the complete list of this form’s Quran occurrences.
A promise or undertaking.
A feminine noun derived from the promise vocabulary; the Quranic occurrence denotes a promise made to someone.
- Lane · entry 45451
- Mufradāt · row 1591
Selected Quran examples
Quran 9:114word 8
“(of) a promise”
مِيعَادٌ
mīʿādun
- Part of speech
- Noun
- Quran occurrences
- 6 occurrences
Selected examples are shown with the sense they illustrate — chosen to teach that sense, not the complete list of this form’s Quran occurrences.
An appointed time or place; an appointment fixed in advance.
The noun can designate the time or place at which a promised or mutually arranged meeting or event is to occur.
- Lane · entry 45464
- Mufradāt · row 1591
Selected Quran examples
Quran 8:42word 15
“the appointment”
A mutual promise or promise.
The noun can refer to the act or fact of promising mutually, as well as to the resulting appointment.
- Lane · entry 45464
- Mufradāt · row 1591
Selected Quran examples
Quran 3:194word 14
“the promise”
وَعِيدٌ
waʿīdun
- Part of speech
- Noun
- Quran occurrences
- 6 occurrences
Selected examples are shown with the sense they illustrate — chosen to teach that sense, not the complete list of this form’s Quran occurrences.
A threat, warning, or threatened punishment.
This noun is restricted lexically to threatening or warning of evil, unlike the broader وَعْدٌ, which can concern good or evil.
- Lane · entry 45460
- Mufradāt · row 1591
Selected Quran examples
Quran 50:20word 6
“(of) the Warning”
Quran 14:14word 10
“My Threat”
وَعْدٌ
waʿdun
- Part of speech
- Verbal noun
- Quran occurrences
- 49 occurrences
Selected examples are shown with the sense they illustrate — chosen to teach that sense, not the complete list of this form’s Quran occurrences.
A promise or announced future outcome, concerning good or evil.
The verbal noun may denote a divine or human promise, including an announced punishment; the context determines whether the promised outcome is beneficial or harmful.
- Lane · entry 45457
- Mufradāt · row 1591
Selected Quran examples
Quran 14:22word 9
“a promise”
The fulfillment or realization of a promise.
In Quranic usage, وَعْدٌ can refer not only to the promise itself but to its fulfillment or coming to pass.
- Lane · entry 45457
- Mufradāt · row 1591
Selected Quran examples
Quran 10:48word 4
“the promise (be fulfilled)”
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
- 2:51وَٰعَدْنَاWe appointed
- 2:235تُوَاعِدُوهُنَّpromise them (widows)
- 2:268يَعِدُكُمُpromises you
- 2:268يَعِدُكُمpromises you
- 3:9ٱلْمِيعَادَthe Promise
Broader Classical Arabic meanings
Recorded for this root in the Classical lexicons beyond its Quran usage. These are secondary to the Quran senses above.
Show 10 Classical meanings
وَعْدٌ
In conventional usage, failure to perform a promise is treated as lying, whereas failure to carry out a threat is not termed a breach in the same way.
A statement about the social and rhetorical treatment of promises and threats, not a separate grammatical form.
- Lane · entry 45457
وَعْدٌ
A thing promised.
A nominal use referring to the promised object or outcome rather than to the act of promising.
- Lane · entry 45457
وَعَدَ
Of a day, land, or similar thing, to show promise of a coming condition or yield.
A figurative extension in which the subject indicates likely cold, heat, produce, or another future result.
- Lane · entry 45451
أَوْعَدَ
Of a stallion-camel, to bray when preparing to attack or fight other camels.
A specialized figurative use applied to the animal’s threatening sound before aggression.
- Lane · entry 45453
وَاعِدٌ
Promising or showing favorable signs of a future result.
Used of a horse expected to run repeatedly, a beast or tree expected to produce good, a cloud suggesting rain, a day suggesting heat or cold, or land whose emerging vegetation promises productivity.
- Lane · entry 45462
تَوَعَّدَ
To threaten or menace.
The Form V threatening verb is attested in the broader lexical discussion even though this QAC packet contains no Quranic Form V group.
- Lane · entry 45451
وَاعَدَ
To vie with another in promising, surpassing the other by promising more.
A specialized reciprocal construction concerning competing promises.
- Lane · entry 45452
اِتَّعَدَ
To accept or rely on another’s promise.
The derived verb describes accepting a promise and, by extension, confiding in or relying upon it.
- Lane · entry 45456
عِدِيٌّ
Of or relating to a promise.
A relational adjective derived from عِدَةٌ, with dialectal variation in its formation reported in the lexical evidence.
- Lane · entry 45459
الوَعِيدِيَّةُ
A sect of the Khawārij characterized in the lexical description by an extreme doctrine of threats and punishment.
A technical sectarian designation, not a general meaning of وَعِيدٌ.
- Lane · entry 45461
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
وَعْدٌ can concern good or evil, while وَعِيدٌ is specifically a threat or warning of evil.
Lane’s historical Quran citation for the covenant interpretation of مَوْعِدٌ is preserved as reported and has not been converted into a modern surah:ayah location.