enfranchise

American  

[en-fran-chahyz] / ɛnˈfræn tʃaɪz /

verb (used with object)

enfranchised, enfranchising

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

• enfranchisement noun
• enfranchiser noun
• unenfranchised adjective

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” ( frank ¹ ) + iss- -ish ²

Example Sentences

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

From BBC

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

“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

A Republican from Montana, Rankin pushed for the 19th Amendment that enfranchised women across the country four years later.

From Washington Post

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