espouse
/ɪˈspaʊs//ɪˈspaʊz/
espouse verb: to marry.
Verb
espouse (third-person singular simple present espouses, present participle espousing, simple past and past participle espoused)
- To marry.
- For I am iealous ouer you with godly iealousie, for I haue espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 2 Corinthians 11:2
- Now the birth of Iesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Ioseph (before they came together) shee was found with childe of the holy Ghost.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Matthew 1:18
- To accept, support, or take on as one’s own (an idea or a cause).
- 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.1998, William Croft, “The Projection of Arguments”, in Miriam Butt, Wilhelm Geuder, editors, Event Structure in Argument Linking, page 37
- Those that espoused this ideology […]2011, Donald J. van Vliet, “Letter: Republicans espouse ideology over national welfare”, in The Eagle-Tribune, retrieved 18 Dec 2013
espouse meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Malayalam and Kannada
espouse in Tamil
- தழுவு, தனதெனக் கொள், தனதாக்கு, ஆதரவளி, திருமணம் முடி, பெண்ணைத் திருமணம்செய்து கொடு
espouse in Urdu
- to espouse
- اختیار کرنا ixtiyār karnā, اپنانا apnānā
espouse in Malayalam
- embrace, adopt, take up
- പിന്താങ്ങുക, വരിക്കുക, സ്വീകരിക്കുക, ഏറ്റെടുക്കുക, ഉത്സാഹത്തോടെ ഏറ്റെടുക്കുക, കെെക്കൊള്ളുക
espouse in Kannada
- ಮದುವೆಯಾಗು, ಮದುವೆಮಾಡಿಕೊಡು, ಸಮರ್ಥಿಸು, ಬೆಂಬಲಿಸು
Examples of espouse in a sentence
- Elberich endeavours to persuade her to become a Christian, and espouse Otnit; and to convince her of the incapacity of her gods, he tumbles their images into the fosse.1850, Thomas Keightley, The Fairy Mythology, London: H.G. Bohn, page 212:
- He espoused several wives, and besides kept a considerable number of concubines in his harem.1922, Maneckji Nusserwanji Dhalla, Zoroastrian Civilization, page 232:
Forms of espouse
| third-person singular present | espouses |
|---|---|
| present participle | espousing |
| past participle | espoused |
| past | espoused |
Origin of espouse
From Middle English espousen, borrowed from Old French espouser, from Latin spōnsāre (frequentative of spondeō), from Proto-Indo-European *spend-.
Words formed from espouse
- disespouse
- espousable
Words that rhyme with espouse
Questions about espouse
- What does espouse mean?
- Espouse means to marry.
- What is espouse in Tamil?
- Espouse in Tamil is தழுவு, தனதெனக் கொள், தனதாக்கு. See Espouse meaning in Tamil.
- How do you use espouse in a sentence?
- Elberich endeavours to persuade her to become a Christian, and espouse Otnit; and to convince her of the incapacity of her gods, he tumbles their images into the fosse.
- What part of speech is espouse?
- Espouse is a verb.
- How do you pronounce espouse?
- Espouse is pronounced /ɪˈspaʊz/ (UK).
- What is the past tense of espouse?
- The past tense of espouse is espoused.
Words near espouse in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: espouse (page history and authors); espouse (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); اختیار کرنا (Urdu) (page history and authors); espouse (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license); espouse (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-espouse.wav, En-us-espouse.oga.
Cite this entry: “espouse.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/espouse. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.