espouse

English

Etymology

From Middle English espousen, borrowed from Old French espouser, from Latin spōnsāre, present active infinitive of spōnsō (frequentative of spondeō), from Proto-Indo-European *spend-.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɪˈspaʊz/, IPA^(key): /ɪˈspaʊs/

• Audio (Southern England):

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• Audio (Southern England):

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• Audio (US):

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• Rhymes: -aʊz, -aʊs

Verb

espouse (third-person singular simple present espouses, present participle espousing, simple past and past participle espoused)

1. (transitive) To become/get married to.
   • 1922, Maneckji Nusserwanji Dhalla, Zoroastrian Civilization‎^[1], page 232:

     He espoused several wives, and besides kept a considerable number of concubines in his harem.

2. (transitive) To accept, support, or take on as one’s own (an idea or a cause).
   • 1998, William Croft, Event Structure in Argument Linking, in: Miriam Butt and Wilhelm Geuder, eds., “The Projection of Arguments”, p. 37

     Although Dowty’s proposal is attractive from the point of view of the alternative argument linking theory that I am espousing, since it eschews the use of thematic roles and thematic role hierarchies, […], but it still has some drawbacks.

   • 2011, Donald J. van Vliet, “Letter: Republicans espouse ideology over national welfare”, in The Eagle-Tribune‎^[2], retrieved 2013-12-18:

     Those that espoused this ideology […]

Related terms

• espousal
• sponsor
• spouse

Translations

become married to

• Bulgarian: женя се (ženja se)
• Czech: vdát se (cs) pf, oženit se (cs) pf, vdávat se (cs) impf, ženit se (cs) impf
• Dutch: trouwen (nl) met (nl), in het huwelijk treden met (nl), tot man nemen, tot vrouw nemen
• Esperanto: geedziĝi je
• French: épouser (fr)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• German: heiraten (de), ehelichen (de), sich vermählen mit, zur Frau nehmen, zum Mann nehmen, die Ehe eingehen mit
• Polish: poślubić (pl), ożenić się (pl), wyjść za mąż (pl)
• Portuguese: desposar (pt)
• Russian: вступа́ть в бра́к (vstupátʹ v brák), жени́ться (ru) n (ženítʹsja)

accept, support, take as one’s own

• Bulgarian: поддържам (bg) (poddǎržam)
• Czech: vzít za své (cs) pf, přijmout (cs) pf, brát za své impf, přijímat (cs) impf
• Dutch: verdedigen (nl), aannemen (nl), ondersteunen (nl)
• Esperanto: subteni, apogi (eo), adopti (eo)
• Finnish: omaksua (fi), kannattaa (fi)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• French: épouser (fr), adopter (fr)
• German: eintreten für, Partei ergreifen für
• Greek: ενστερνίζομαι (el) (ensternízomai), ασπάζομαι (el) (aspázomai)
• Portuguese: apoiar (pt)
• Russian: подде́рживать (иде́ю) (poddérživatʹ (idéju)), отдава́ться (де́лу) (otdavátʹsja (délu))
• Swedish: anamma (sv)

Anagrams

• poseuse