enfranchise

American  

[en-fran-chahyz] / ɛnˈfræn tʃaɪz /

verb (used with object)

• enfranchises,
  present (3rd person singular)
• enfranchised,
  past participle,  past
• enfranchising
  present participle

1. to admit to citizenship, especially to the right of voting.

   By about 1860, most white men without property had been enfranchised.

2. to give (a person or group) the rights or privileges of full participation in society or in any community or organization, especially the opportunity to influence policy or make their voice heard.

   The online forum enfranchises nurses, giving them a sense of belonging both to the profession and to the organization they work for.

3. to set free; liberate, as from slavery or from some disabling constraint.

   Some ideologies enfranchise innovative creativity, while others suppress it.

4. to endow (a city, constituency, etc.) with municipal or parliamentary rights.

5. to grant a franchise to.

   The Chicago White Sox were enfranchised in Iowa in 1894, when the team was known as the Sioux City Cornhuskers.

6. British. to give the tenant of (a leasehold) the right to purchase freehold of the property or to extend the lease, often up to the end of life.

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enfranchise British  

/ ɪnˈfræntʃaɪz /

verb

1. to grant the power of voting to, esp as a right of citizenship

2. to liberate, as from servitude

3. (in England) to invest (a town, city, etc) with the right to be represented in Parliament

4. English law to convert (leasehold) to freehold

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• enfranchisement
  noun
• enfranchiser
  noun
• unenfranchised
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Participles

• enfranchising
  present
• enfranchised
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• enfranchise
  simple
• enfranchises
  simple
• have enfranchised
  perfect
• has enfranchised
  perfect
• am enfranchising
  progressive
• are enfranchising
  progressive
• is enfranchising
  progressive
• have been enfranchising
  perfect progressive
• has been enfranchising
  perfect progressive

Past

• enfranchised
  simple
• had enfranchised
  perfect
• was enfranchising
  progressive
• were enfranchising
  progressive
• had been enfranchising
  perfect progressive

Future

• will enfranchise
  simple
• will have enfranchised
  perfect
• will be enfranchising
  progressive
• will have been enfranchising
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of enfranchise

First recorded in 1505–15; from Middle French, Old French enfranchiss- (long stem of enfranchir “to free”), equivalent to en- en- ¹ + franch- “free” ( see frank ¹) + iss- -ish ²

Explanation

The verb enfranchise is used when a group of people are given voting rights or freedoms they didn't have before. Many people under the age of 18 would like lawmakers to enfranchise their peer group so they can vote. Enfranchise traces back to the Old French word enfranchiss, a combination of en-, meaning "make, put in," and enfranchir, meaning "to set or make free." In the 1680s, enfranchise came to mean "to admit to membership in a state," something that usually came with the right to vote. You may know the word disenfranchised, an adjective that describes people who lack rights or liberties. To enfranchise is to give or restore rights to the disenfranchised.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

enfranchise enfranchises enfranchised enfranchising

It took the 15th Amendment, ratified more than 1½ years later, to enfranchise black Americans.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 1, 2026

If voters pass the measure, it goes back to the council to decide when — if ever — to enfranchise the immigrants.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 6, 2026

Pressure began building to enfranchise women voters in the early 20th century, notably in the southeastern state of Yucatan, said Lorenzo Meyer, a historian at the Colegio de Mexico.

From Reuters ● Sep. 9, 2023

But he wants to enfranchise more people, from across the democratic spectrum, in making those distinctions.

From Washington Post ● Jan. 7, 2020

“Not because it enfranchises black men, but because it does not enfranchise all women, black and white.”

From "Votes for Women!" by Winifred Conkling

“What I don’t want to see is a system that enfranchises some people and not others and we need the research to really tell what happened here,” Mr. de Blasio said.

From New York Times ● Jul. 24, 2021

Pass another voting rights act that enfranchises as many Americans as possible.

From New York Times ● Jan. 7, 2021

“A historical atlas enfranchises the whole nation,” he said.

From New York Times ● Dec. 25, 2013

The new law, to become operative when a new Diet is elected this spring, enfranchises 9,600,000 adult males.

From Time Magazine Archive

“Not because it enfranchises black men, but because it does not enfranchise all women, black and white.”

From "Votes for Women!" by Winifred Conkling

Douglass may not have held a role as a judge, legislator, or even enfranchised citizen, yet he nonetheless played a pivotal role in shaping the nation’s understanding of equal citizenship in the Civil War era.

From Slate ● Jul. 24, 2026

Chute writes about predatory capitalism from the vantage point of the Mainers who are the least enfranchised and most abandoned, “stressed to the breaking point,” she has written.

From New York Times ● Jul. 26, 2023

But the Electoral Commission says only one in five newly enfranchised 16 and 17-year-olds registered to vote ahead of May's local elections.

From BBC ● Oct. 10, 2022

He also wanted to curry the votes of newly enfranchised women; Hardwick had opposed the 19th Amendment, so he thought he needed to do something big to make up for it.

From Washington Post ● Jan. 10, 2022

The Nineteenth Amendment enfranchised women, but some states quickly moved to deny nonwhite women—and men—the right to vote.

From "Votes for Women!" by Winifred Conkling

In one fell swoop, Congress used its guarantee clause authority to establish multiracial democracy where human bondage had previously held sway, enfranchising huge numbers of formerly enslaved Black Americans and remaking Southern society.

From Slate ● Jun. 3, 2026

"Those are two great examples of private sector firms enfranchising themselves in our mission to make Britain a clean energy superpower."

From BBC ● Apr. 11, 2025

“To have the person who was always part of enfranchising the community be disenfranchised the way he was, was unconscionable,” Norton said.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 7, 2023

Lewis said her reaction to Monday’s ruling was “utter shock,” namely because she feels the board typically errs on the side of enfranchising candidates to grant them ballot access.

From Washington Post ● Apr. 20, 2022

Miss Anthony was introduced with words of praise by Representative Packard, and spoke for an hour, making her usual strong plea for a Sixteenth Amendment enfranchising women.

From The Life and Work of Susan B. Anthony (Volume 2 of 2) Including Public Addresses, Her Own Letters and Many From Her Contemporaries During Fifty Years by Ida Husted Harper