Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for December 17, 2025 is: espouse \ih-SPOWZ\ verb 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. [See the entry >](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/espouse) Examples: “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](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/spouse) are hitched, both coming from the Latin verb spondēre, meaning “to promise” or “to [betroth](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/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.”