"espouses" in the verb sense
1. adopt, follow, espouse
choose and follow as of theories, ideas, policies, strategies or plans
"She followed the feminist movement"
"The candidate espouses Republican ideals"
2. marry, get married, wed, conjoin, hook up with, get hitched with, espouse
take in marriage
3. espouse, embrace, adopt, sweep up
take up the cause, ideology, practice, method, of someone and use it as one's own
"She embraced Catholicism"
"They adopted the Jewish faith"
Source: WordNet® (An amazing lexical database of English)
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