espouse
/ɪˈspaʊz/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.68 in modern English
9
Scrabble Score
7
Letters
2
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
Example Sentences
- "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."
- "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."
- "Philip and Henry terminated hostilities by a mutual restitution of all places taken during the course of the war; and Philip espoused the princess Elizabeth, eldest daughter of France, formerly betrothed to his son Don Carlos."
- "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."
- "He espoused several wives, and besides kept a considerable number of concubines in his harem."
- "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."
Etymology
From Middle English espousen, borrowed from Old French espouser, from Latin spōnsāre (frequentative of spondeō), from Proto-Indo-European *spend-.
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- British English: /ɪˈspaʊz/