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.

---

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  

/ 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

---

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.

---

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.)

---

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

She would go on to release eight books about the “Throne of Glass” world, simultaneously beginning work on “ACOTAR,” which made its debut in 2015, while her third franchise, “Crescent City,” was launched in 2020.

From MarketWatch ● Nov. 6, 2026

The franchise will continue but will instead only be broadcast on Wow Presents Plus, a streaming platform owned by the production company behind the show.

From BBC ● Nov. 6, 2026

Lucia is the first playable woman character in a main edition of the almost 30-year history of a franchise.

From Barron's ● Nov. 6, 2026

Yum Brands said sales at its Taco Bell franchise have rebounded since late September following a Cyclospora outbreak linked to its food.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 3, 2026

He worked as a mechanic at a SpeeDee Oil Change and Tune-Up franchise most of the week, and had a part-time job delivering lost luggage for the airport.

From "Zeitoun" by Dave Eggers

But soon, the move would turn into a brilliant short of two struggling franchises.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 4, 2026

The upheaval underscores how L.A. franchises have become billion-dollar assets in a high-stakes arms race, in which owners chase media money, luxury arenas and global clout as fiercely as championships.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 31, 2026

His iconic voice and facial expressions saw him star in both the Star Trek and X-Men franchises, helping to spawn a generation of global sci-fi fans.

From BBC ● Oct. 30, 2026

Patrick Stewart, the British Shakespearean actor who became a Hollywood megastar through roles in the "Star Trek" and "X-Men" franchises, has died at the age of 86, an official statement said Thursday.

From Barron's ● Oct. 29, 2026

Accommodating their innumerate help, the larger franchises now have cash registers which have pictures, on the keys, of the items ordered and automatically add on the appropriate tax.

From "Innumeracy: Mathematical Illiteracy and Its Consequences" by John Allen Paulos

The deal covers Boots' retail operations in the UK and Ireland, Boots Opticians, No7 Beauty Company and its Thailand and franchised businesses.

From BBC ● Oct. 7, 2026

Stores are all owned and operated by Casey’s, not franchised, which means no royalty or franchise fees.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 1, 2026

Jersey Mike’s has high profit margins compared with other restaurant chains, but its debt levels are high when compared with other franchised peers, according to the Wall Street research firm Gordon Haskett.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 29, 2026

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

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

Bryant’s concept of franchising the show across different sports gave Manning the idea to do the same with “Peyton’s Places,” thereby creating spinoffs with his brother, Eli, John McEnroe, Sue Bird and others.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 8, 2026

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

Beyond providing high-quality products at affordable prices, franchising also creates jobs—nearly 9 million.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 3, 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

They say the demand for bookings means they are now considering franchising the business so they can expand.

From BBC ● Aug. 21, 2025

Random Word

Spin the wheel and learn a new word!

---