ENFRANCHISE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does enfranchise mean? 

• ENFRANCHISE (verb)
  The verb ENFRANCHISE has 2 senses:

1. grant freedom to; as from slavery or servitude

2. grant voting rights

  Familiarity information: ENFRANCHISE used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• ENFRANCHISE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they enfranchise    ... he / she / it enfranchises   
Past simple: enfranchised   
Past participle: enfranchised   
-ing form: enfranchising   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Grant freedom to; as from slavery or servitude

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Synonyms:

affranchise; enfranchise

Context example:

Slaves were enfranchised in the mid-19th century

Hypernyms (to "enfranchise" is one way to...):

liberate; set free (grant freedom to)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody

Derivation:

enfranchisement (freedom from political subjugation or servitude)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Grant voting rights

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Hypernyms (to "enfranchise" is one way to...):

accord; allot; grant (allow to have)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody

Antonym:

disenfranchise (deprive of voting rights)

Derivation:

enfranchisement (a statutory right or privilege granted to a person or group by a government (especially the rights of citizenship and the right to vote))

 Context examples 

For myself, there was one reward I promised myself from my detested toils—one consolation for my unparalleled sufferings; it was the prospect of that day when, enfranchised from my miserable slavery, I might claim Elizabeth and forget the past in my union with her.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)