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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
Rob Stein, NPR, 1 Mar. 2025
The theories espoused about Texas echo Kennedy’s false statements about the measles outbreak in Samoa in 2019.
—Brandy Zadrozny, NBC News, 25 Feb. 2025
The Russian nationalism espoused by President Vladimir Putin, for instance, is the product of ressentiment, the experience of a perpetual gap between the country’s self-image and its actual power.
—Foreign Affairs, 25 Feb. 2025
Media coverage tends to be a reflection of both the rhetoric espoused by political and social elites and the changing attitudes of the society.
—Erika Franklin Fowler, ABC News, 24 Feb. 2025
See All Example Sentences for espouse
Cite this Entry
“Espouse.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/espouse. Accessed 9 Mar. 2025.
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