woman suffrage

American  

[woom-uhn suhf-rij] / ˈwʊm ən ˈsʌf rɪdʒ /

Also women's suffrage

noun

1. the right of women to vote; female suffrage.

2. a movement to gain this right for women.

---

Other Word Forms

• woman-suffragist
  noun
• woman-suffrage
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of woman suffrage

First recorded in 1840–50

Example Sentences

Temperance and woman suffrage: Reform movements and the women who changed America Page Harrington, executive director of the Sewall-Belmont House and Museum, leads a panel discussion on various reform movements and the women behind them.

From Washington Post • Mar. 24, 2015

Everett Wheeler, the president of East Side House, felt that another hazard lay with the woman suffrage movement.

From New York Times • Nov. 11, 2012

Many people, both men and women, thought that woman suffrage was too radical a break with tradition.

From Textbooks • Jan. 1, 2012

Its goal was to draw attention to the cause of woman suffrage.

From Textbooks • Jan. 1, 2012

He was always an ardent defender of woman suffrage, and such advocates of that noble cause as Adelaide A. Claflin publicly expressed their sorrow on the death of their coadjutor and friend.

From John Greenleaf Whittier His Life, Genius, and Writings by Kennedy, W. Sloane