franchise

American  

[fran-chahyz] / ˈfræn tʃaɪz /

noun

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)

franchised, franchising

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

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

Etymology

Origin of franchise

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

Example Sentences

With that money, SpaceX built a dominant launch franchise and profitable communications business.

From Barron's • Apr. 1, 2026

Foundayo is Lilly’s second weight-loss treatment after Zepbound, and the growing franchise aligns with the company’s strategy to remain the world’s most successful developer of obesity therapies.

From MarketWatch • Apr. 1, 2026

This brief glimpse of Daisy is another indication that there is more to come in the Mario movie franchise.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 1, 2026

Yet for Washington’s dealers, the prospect of putting franchise laws up for a popular vote laid bare a tough reality: given the choice, many car buyers want the freedom to avoid dealerships.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 28, 2026

It’s a franchise: there are Soul Scrolls in every city center, in every suburb, or so they say.

From "The Handmaid's Tale" by Margaret Atwood