Adjacent Words

enfranchise definitions

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WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

v
1: grant freedom to; as from slavery or servitude; "Slaves were enfranchised in the mid-19th century" [syn: affranchise, enfranchise]
2: grant voting rights [ant: disenfranchise, disfranchise]

Merriam Webster's

transitive verb (-chised; -chising) Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French enfranchiss-, stem of enfranchir, from en- + franc free — more at frank Date: 15th century 1. to set free (as from slavery) 2. to endow with a franchise: as a. to admit to the privileges of a citizen and especially to the right of suffrage b. to admit (a municipality) to political privileges or rights • enfranchisement noun

Oxford Reference Dictionary

v.tr. 1 give (a person) the right to vote. 2 give (a town) municipal rights, esp. that of representation in parliament. 3 hist. free (a slave, villein, etc.). Derivatives: enfranchisement n. Etymology: OF enfranchir (as EN-(1), franc franche FRANK)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Enfranchise En*fran"chise, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Enfranchised; p. pr. & vb. n. Enfranchising.] [Pref. en- + franchise: cf. F. enfranchir.] 1. To set free; to liberate from slavery, prison, or any binding power. --Bacon. 2. To endow with a franchise; to incorporate into a body politic and thus to invest with civil and political privileges; to admit to the privileges of a freeman. 3. To receive as denizens; to naturalize; as, to enfranchise foreign words. --I. Watts.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(enfranchises, enfranchising, enfranchised) To enfranchise someone means to give them the right to vote in elections. (FORMAL) The company voted to enfranchise its 120 women members... VERB: V n

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

v. a. 1. Admit as a free man, endow with a franchise. 2. Free, emancipate, manumit, release, set free, make free, restore to liberty.

Moby Thesaurus

affranchise, authorize, certificate, certify, charter, deliver, disenthrall, emancipate, empower, enable, entitle, extricate, franchise, free, give official sanction, give power, legalize, legitimize, liberate, license, manumit, patent, privilege, ratify, release, rescue, sanction, set at large, set at liberty, set free, validate, warrant