franchise

American  

[fran-chahyz] / ˈfræn tʃaɪz /

noun

• franchises
  plural

1. a privilege of a public nature conferred on an individual, group, or company by a government.

   a franchise to operate a bus system.

2. the right or license granted by a company to an individual or group to market its products or services in a specific territory.

3. a store, restaurant, or other business operating under such a license.

4. the territory over which such a license extends.

5. the right to vote.

   to guarantee the franchise of every citizen.

6. a privilege arising from the grant of a sovereign or government, or from prescription, which presupposes a grant.

7. Sports.

   1. the right to own or operate a professional sports team as a member of a league.

   2. a professional sports team.

   3. a player of great talent or popular appeal, considered vitally important to a team's success or future.

8. a set of creative works and related merchandise that share a fictional world, as films, television shows, books, or games.

   the Star Wars franchise;

   the Pokémon franchise.

9. a legal immunity or exemption from a particular burden, exaction, or the like.

10. Obsolete. freedom, especially from imprisonment, servitude, or moral restraint.

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verb (used with object)

• franchises,
  present (3rd person singular)
• franchised,
  past participle,  past
• franchising
  present participle

1. to grant (an individual, company, etc.) a franchise.

   The corporation has just franchised our local dealer.

2. enfranchise.

franchise British  

/ ˈfræntʃɪzmənt, ˈfræntʃaɪz /

noun

1. the right to vote, esp for representatives in a legislative body; suffrage

2. any exemption, privilege, or right granted to an individual or group by a public authority, such as the right to use public property for a business

3. commerce authorization granted by a manufacturing enterprise to a distributor to market the manufacturer's products

4. the full rights of citizenship

5. films a film that is or has the potential to be part of a series and lends itself to merchandising

6. (in marine insurance) a sum or percentage stated in a policy, below which the insurer disclaims all liability

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verb

1. (tr) commerce to grant (a person, firm, etc) a franchise

2. an obsolete word for enfranchise

franchise ¹ Cultural  

1. In business, a relationship between a manufacturer and a retailer in which the manufacturer provides the product, sales techniques, and other kinds of managerial assistance, and the retailer promises to market the manufacturer's product rather than that of competitors. For example, most automobile dealerships are franchises. The vast majority of fast food chains are also run on the franchise principle, with the retailer paying to use the brand name.

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franchise ² Cultural  

1. In politics, the right to vote. The Constitution left the determination of the qualifications of voters to the states. In the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century, states usually restricted the franchise to white men who owned specified amounts of property. Gradually, poll taxes were substituted for property requirements. Before the Civil War, the voting rights of blacks were severely restricted, but the Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution, declared ratified in 1870, prohibited states from abridging the right to vote on the basis of race. Nevertheless, southern states used a variety of legal ploys to restrict black voting until passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Women were not guaranteed the right to vote in federal elections until ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920. In 1971 the Twenty-sixth Amendment lowered the voting age from twenty-one to eighteen. (See suffrage and suffragette.)

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Discover More

Losing the right to vote, called disfranchisement, is most commonly caused by failing to reregister, a procedure that is required every time a person changes residence.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• franchisability
  noun
• franchisee
  noun
• franchisement
  noun
• franchiser
  noun
• subfranchise
  noun
• franchisable
  adjective
• overfranchised
  adjective
• unfranchised
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• franchises
  plural

Participles

• franchising
  present
• franchised
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• franchise
  simple
• franchises
  simple
• have franchised
  perfect
• has franchised
  perfect
• am franchising
  progressive
• are franchising
  progressive
• is franchising
  progressive
• have been franchising
  perfect progressive
• has been franchising
  perfect progressive

Past

• franchised
  simple
• had franchised
  perfect
• was franchising
  progressive
• were franchising
  progressive
• had been franchising
  perfect progressive

Future

• will franchise
  simple
• will have franchised
  perfect
• will be franchising
  progressive
• will have been franchising
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of franchise

First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English, from Old French, derivative of franc “free”; see frank ¹

Explanation

A franchise is a right granted by a government or corporation to an individual or group of individuals. One of the most important government-issued rights — so important it's known simply as "the franchise" — is the right to vote. In its more commercial meaning, the fast-food chain McDonalds is a franchise. So are Burger King and Kentucky Fried Chicken and the New York Yankees. In other words, businesses from which you can buy a license in order to sell or use their products. More recently, the term has come to have an intellectual meaning as well, as in a particular series of books or films, such as the Harry Potter franchise.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

franchise franchises franchised franchising

Actor Peter Cullen, who voiced popular characters including Optimus Prime in Transformers and Eeyore in Disney's Winnie the Pooh franchise, has died at the age of 85.

From BBC ● Aug. 27, 2026

Kris explains that she knows the studio hired her solely because she’s queer, as only a queer person could revamp an outdated, transphobic slasher franchise without Big Cancel Culture piping in.

From Salon ● Aug. 26, 2026

Joshua Kushner and Bob Iger, successful businessmen by any measure, paid $12.5 billion for the Lakers, easily the highest price ever for a sports franchise.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 25, 2026

The Mountain View, Calif. company is working this year on attracting customers new to the franchise, which it views as the lifeblood of future revenue growth, Aujla said.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 25, 2026

The first of these campaigns was the First Transvaal and Orange Free State Peoples Assembly for Votes for All, a campaign for the extension of the franchise to all black South Africans.

From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela

As part of plans to reduce its reliance on the core obesity and diabetes franchises, the company is working to broaden its drug offering to include more treatments for related diseases.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 27, 2026

Electronic Arts, the gaming company known for franchises such as “The Sims” and “Battlefield,” has been acquired by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, Silver Lake and Affinity Partners for $55 billion.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 25, 2026

When he stopped playing in 2015, MLB franchises were lining up to hire him for various coaching and front-office roles.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 24, 2026

The booming business of sports has attracted a flood of private-equity investment, and even the most notable franchises require the influx of cash to keep up in the arms race.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 21, 2026

Bullhead’s distinguishing civic feature is the Mohave Valley Highway, four lanes of asphalt lined with gas stations and fast-food franchises, chiropractors and video shops, auto-parts outlets and tourist traps.

From "Into the Wild" by Jon Krakauer

He has also cited Greater Manchester's bus operating model, in which private bus firms bid to run services franchised by the local transport authority, as a possible model for regulating the water and energy sectors.

From BBC ● Jul. 23, 2026

Mavis, based in White Plains, N.Y., offers tire services and general automotive repair across its more than 3,600 owned and franchised shops around the U.S. and Canada.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 20, 2026

It terminated unprofitable delivery routes, sold its stake in Insomnia Cookies and is moving toward more franchised stores.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 6, 2026

Analyst Brian Harbour believes Yum offers some of the strongest growth potential among large franchised restaurant companies, yet the stock’s current pricing fails to reflect those advantages.

From Barron's ● Jun. 3, 2026

Instead of the franchised blandness of American cities, Alexandria is a city of mom-and-pop stores, all with signage screaming for attention, their wares encroaching on the streets.

From "Circumference" by Nicholas Nicastro

Jersey Mike’s founder, Peter Cancro, began working there at age 14, bought the business in 1975 and started franchising the chain in 1987.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 2, 2026

He is also franchising his intellectual property, creating other products such as a card game inspired by "Exquisite Corpses" while holding talks with video game developers.

From Barron's ● Feb. 19, 2026

The chain has spent the past year assessing its business, with executives looking to change everything from its franchising strategy to how it builds its pizzas.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 5, 2026

Collective protest has been complicated by consolidation, franchising and acquisitions, making it ever more difficult to even figure out who to protest and how.

From Salon ● Oct. 3, 2025

There are plans to open a Fresh Brothers in the Chicago area and begin franchising in other states by March, Majewski said.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 19, 2024