enfranchise
[en-fran-chahyz]
- to grant a franchise to; admit to citizenship, especially to the right of voting.
- to endow (a city, constituency, etc.) with municipal or parliamentary rights.
- to set free; liberate, as from slavery.
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Also franchise.
Origin of enfranchise
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Related Words
freedomintegrityindependenceliberationautonomyexemptiondemocracyself-determinationemancipationreliefprivilegereleasesovereigntyself-governmentimmunitycitizenshipbirthrightrightdispensationrestenfranchise
- to grant the power of voting to, esp as a right of citizenship
- to liberate, as from servitude
- (in England) to invest (a town, city, etc) with the right to be represented in Parliament
- English law to convert (leasehold) to freehold
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Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for enfranchisement
enfranchise
v.
early 15c., "to set free," from Old French enfranchiss-, present participle stem of enfranchir "to set or make free; grant a franchise to;" from en- "make, put in" (see en- (1)) + franc "free" (see franchise).
Meaning "to admit to membership in a state" (generally with reference to voting privileges) is from 1680s. Related: Enfranchised; enfranchisement.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper