Did you know?
Commit to Learning the History of Espouse
As you might guess, the words espouse and spouse are hitched, both coming from the Latin verb spondēre, meaning “to promise” or “to betroth.” In fact, the two were once completely interchangeable, with each serving as a noun meaning “a newly married person” or “a husband or wife” and also as a verb meaning “to marry.” Their semantic separation began when the noun espouse fell out of use. Nowadays, espouse is most often encountered as a verb used in the figuratively extended sense “to commit to and support as a cause.”
Examples of espouse in a Sentence
Kissa Castañeda, Forbes, 28 Mar. 2024
Still, the virtue of crate training puppies is espoused here in the United States, where crating often continues into a dog’s adult life.
—Kelly Conaboy, Washington Post, 20 Mar. 2024
Panelists espoused how increasing happiness benefited the greater good: Happy people live longer, are healthier, more successful at work and are more likely to volunteer.
—Calmatters, The Mercury News, 14 Mar. 2024
That reactionary faction of the right continued to espouse affection for dictatorship even after the collapse of the Soviet Union, when there was no longer an overriding foreign-policy justification for championing such regimes.
—Franklin Foer, The Atlantic, 1 Mar. 2024
Jurado, the tenant rights attorney, has staked out positions that run counter to many of those espoused by the three politicians in the race.
—David Zahniser, Los Angeles Times, 27 Feb. 2024
For decades, the Republican Party had espoused a set of ideas that could be described as the Reagan formula.
—CBS News, 23 Mar. 2024
This year, the message espoused by Melvin at their first team meeting of camp surrounded personal accountability.
—Evan Webeck, The Mercury News, 23 Mar. 2024
For Hawley, that’s meant eschewing the traditional, business friendly stances espoused by Republicans in favor of the working class.
—Daniel Desrochers, Kansas City Star, 22 Mar. 2024
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'espouse.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near espouse
Cite this Entry
“Espouse.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/espouse. Accessed 18 Apr. 2024.
Copy Citation
Share