(n.) The act of espousing or betrothing; especially, in the plural, betrothal; plighting of the troths; a contract of marriage; sometimes, the marriage ceremony.
(n.) The uniting or allying one's self with anything; maintenance; adoption; as, the espousal of a quarrel.
Example Sentences:
(1) A key part of the legacy vision espoused by Lord Coe that helped to win the Games was the promise to use the 2012 Olympics to inspire more young people to play sport.
(2) The church excommunicated him in 1901, unhappy with his novel Resurrection and Tolstoy's espousal of Christian anarchist and pacifist views.
(3) The foundation espouses a method of urban planning called Enquiry by Design .
(4) That is the view Professor Carter has been espousing for a long time.
(5) We cannot think that a society has a future when it fails to pass laws capable of protecting families and ensuring their basic needs, especially those of families just starting out.” Intentionally or not, the pontiff’s politically tinged address would have bolstered his progressive reputation, even though traditional Catholic social doctrine has long espoused access to housing, medical aid and work.
(6) Anglo-American psychiatry, in espousing Jaspers and rejecting psychoanalysis, has in consequence concentrated on the form and not the sense of delusions.
(7) Hillary Clinton said on Monday that while she does not “know what’s in his heart”, she considers Donald Trump’s attack on a federal judge of Mexican heritage to be “a racist attack” and part of a pattern of bigotry espoused by the presumptive Republican nominee.
(8) We asked some regular Ukip supporting – or, at least, sympathising – commenters to tell us why they’re thinking of voting for the party and their experiences espousing the party’s views on the Guardian website.
(9) His sexist commentary and anti-woman statements, coupled with the Republican policy positions he espouses, make it virtually impossible to envision any scenario whereby 50% of female voters would cast their ballots for him.
(10) One thing that most experts agree on is that the pope is enigmatic: while he seems to espouse liberal values on some days, raising the hopes of progressive Catholics of a changing church, his staunch adherence to conservative doctrine proves that he is not the radical reformer many liberals might wish that he was.
(11) A mongst even my peers in Texas, it has become acceptable – hip, even – to espouse one's love for a member of the same sex.
(12) We have espoused unpopular causes, stood up for those too feeble to stand up for themselves, locked horns with the high and mighty so swollen with power that they have forgotten their roots, exposed corruption and the waste of your hard-earned tax rupees, and made sure that whatever the propaganda of the day, you were allowed to hear a contrary view.
(13) Because, while Edward Snowden's and the Guardian 's revelations about the NSA have shown how all-encompassing the state's surveillance has become, a counterculture movement of digital activists espousing the importance of freedom, individualism and the right to a private life beyond the state's control is also rapidly gaining traction.
(14) He espoused the belief that diet holds the key to its control at a time when that belief was widely considered to be false and its proponents a little crazy.
(15) The taste of water has been examined by both electrophysiological methods and by behavior, but none of the mechanisms espoused for its effect seem adequate to explain the response to D2O.
(16) The plan to devolve almost £50bn to the regions to boost growth sounds like the sort of thing politicians love to espouse in opposition, but quickly go off once in power.
(17) "It is about commemorating a dream that was espoused 50 years ago," he said.
(18) Those above the line espouse liberal and democratic values, those below tend toward authoritarian policies.
(19) Earlier this month David Harewood, a lead in US conspiracy drama Homeland that aired for the first time in the UK on Sunday (19 February), reinforced a view that has long been espoused by minority performers frustrated with the lack of opportunities on offer here: "There really aren't enough strong, authoritative roles for black actors in this country," he told a crowded Bafta screening at the British industry's grand epicentre in Piccadilly.
(20) They espouse contradictory beliefs about men: they believe that men are predatory and not trustworthy, but also more mainstream beliefs that call for reliance on the opposite sex.
Handfast
Definition:
(n.) Hold; grasp; custody; power of confining or keeping.
(n.) Contract; specifically, espousal.
(a.) Fast by contract; betrothed by joining hands.
(v. t.) To pledge; to bind; to betroth by joining hands, in order to cohabitation, before the celebration of marriage.
(n.) Strong; steadfast.
Example Sentences:
(1) It was his suggestion to incorporate handfasting into their ceremony, a pagan tradition where the couple’s hands are symbolically tied together with ribbons, which is a common feature of humanist weddings.
(2) Overnight he had also carried out around a dozen "handfasting" ceremonies – the pagan equivalent of weddings.