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as in borrows
to take for one's own use (something originated by another)
after working among them for two years in the Peace Corps, she felt compelled to espouse the peasants' cause for social justice
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
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Recent Examples of espouses
Many of these staffers are defecting to a new organization called Advancing American Freedom, founded by former Vice President Mike Pence, that espouses a much more traditional view of conservatism.
—
Colin Pascal, Baltimore Sun, 12 Jan. 2026
Outlaw country to the core, the Illinois native espouses an uncompromising independence and social-justice righteousness missing from the Nashville mainstream — and feigned for appearance’s sake in related circles.
—Bob Gendron, Chicago Tribune, 9 Jan. 2026
The Wizard espouses his own version of this idea, confident that the public can be appeased by the illusion of a common enemy.
—Justin Chang, New Yorker, 20 Nov. 2025
His opponent and the incumbent mayor is played by Pedro Pascal, who espouses more left-leaning politics and urges citizens of Eddington, New Mexico, to wear masks.
—Jordan Moreau, Variety, 21 Oct. 2025
Loeffler, along with first-year Eagles passing game coordinator Parks Frazier, is partly tasked with supplying them on a staff that espouses collaboration.
—Brooks Kubena, New York Times, 25 Aug. 2025
But Wayne Winegarden, senior fellow at the Pacific Research Institute, a Pasadena think tank that espouses free-market solutions to policy matters, criticized the report, saying the recommendations would cost billions when California faces chronic annual budget crunches.
—Rob Nikolewski, San Diego Union-Tribune, 19 Aug. 2025
While Sweeney has yet to formally address the accusations that her campaign with American Eagle espouses eugenics ideology, the brand issued its statement on Friday, after a week of online discourse.
—Mekishana Pierre, EW.com, 4 Aug. 2025
Colin Pascal, Baltimore Sun, 12 Jan. 2026
Outlaw country to the core, the Illinois native espouses an uncompromising independence and social-justice righteousness missing from the Nashville mainstream — and feigned for appearance’s sake in related circles.
—Bob Gendron, Chicago Tribune, 9 Jan. 2026
The Wizard espouses his own version of this idea, confident that the public can be appeased by the illusion of a common enemy.
—Justin Chang, New Yorker, 20 Nov. 2025
His opponent and the incumbent mayor is played by Pedro Pascal, who espouses more left-leaning politics and urges citizens of Eddington, New Mexico, to wear masks.
—Jordan Moreau, Variety, 21 Oct. 2025
Loeffler, along with first-year Eagles passing game coordinator Parks Frazier, is partly tasked with supplying them on a staff that espouses collaboration.
—Brooks Kubena, New York Times, 25 Aug. 2025
But Wayne Winegarden, senior fellow at the Pacific Research Institute, a Pasadena think tank that espouses free-market solutions to policy matters, criticized the report, saying the recommendations would cost billions when California faces chronic annual budget crunches.
—Rob Nikolewski, San Diego Union-Tribune, 19 Aug. 2025
While Sweeney has yet to formally address the accusations that her campaign with American Eagle espouses eugenics ideology, the brand issued its statement on Friday, after a week of online discourse.
—Mekishana Pierre, EW.com, 4 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for espouses
Verb
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This crowd-pleasing appetizer marries chili sauce and barbecue sauce for a dump-and-stir success.—
Patricia S York,
Southern Living,
3 Feb. 2026
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Things begin to unravel when the head of her ballet company (Jack Huston) marries a contemporary choreographer (Betty Gabriel), disrupting the company’s tradition and igniting a quiet, atmospheric power struggle that threatens the very future of the institution.—
Gillian Telling,
PEOPLE,
30 Jan. 2026
Verb
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Advertisement In a moment when politics increasingly borrows the aesthetics of culture, clarity counts.—
Debbie Millman,
Time,
4 Feb. 2026
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This recipe borrows that same concept and scales it up to a Bundt pan size.—
Jesse Szewczyk,
Bon Appetit Magazine,
27 Jan. 2026
Verb
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But as Wall Street embraces tokenization, or issues different digital assets on blockchains, Bogart believes TRM will be able to weather any impending downturn.—
Leo Schwartz,
Fortune,
4 Feb. 2026
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The album, released just over a year ago, embraces rhythms native to Puerto Rico, like plena and salsa, and centers the island’s colonial history.—
Itzel Luna,
Los Angeles Times,
4 Feb. 2026
Verb
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Their Eyes adopts the documentary mode and is narrated entirely by crowdworkers—specifically, annotators contracted to segment and label images to create training data for self-driving cars.—
Farren Fei Yuan,
Artforum,
1 Feb. 2026
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Morina’s direct style — following Shaban and Hatixhe closely, highlighting the physicality of their labor — adopts the matter-of-fact attitude of his protagonists.—
Bilge Ebiri,
Vulture,
31 Jan. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Espouses.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/espouses. Accessed 12 Feb. 2026.
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