espouse

espouse

Audio pronunciation

 
verb|ih-SPOWZ
 
What It Means
 
To espouse an ideology, belief, etc., is to take it up and support it as a cause. Espouse is usually encountered in formal speech and writing.
 
// The article explores some of the lesser-known viewpoints espoused by the charismatic leader.
 
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Examples of ESPOUSE
 
“Crammed into a tiny apartment in Greenwich Village, they [Yoko Ono and John Lennon] immersed themselves in the city’s counterculture, absorbing progressive politics whenever they weren’t glued to the television set. Lennon’s celebrity secured the duo a large platform to espouse these ideas ...” — Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Pitchfork, 11 Oct. 2025
 



 
Did You Know?
 
As you might guess, the words espouse and spouse are hitched, both coming from the Latin verb spond;re, 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 partner in marriage” and also as a verb meaning “to marry.” Their semantic separation began when the noun espouse fell out of use. Nowadays, espouse is almost exclusively encountered as a verb used in the figuratively extended sense “to commit to and support as a cause.”