FRANCHISE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does franchise mean? 

• FRANCHISE (noun)
  The noun FRANCHISE has 3 senses:

1. an authorization to sell a company's goods or services in a particular place

2. a business established or operated under an authorization to sell or distribute a company's goods or services in a particular area

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

  Familiarity information: FRANCHISE used as a noun is uncommon.

• FRANCHISE (verb)
  The verb FRANCHISE has 1 sense:

1. grant a franchise to

  Familiarity information: FRANCHISE used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• FRANCHISE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

An authorization to sell a company's goods or services in a particular place

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Hypernyms ("franchise" is a kind of...):

concession; grant (a contract granting the right to operate a subsidiary business)

Derivation:

franchise (grant a franchise to)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A business established or operated under an authorization to sell or distribute a company's goods or services in a particular area

Classified under:

Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects

Synonyms:

dealership; franchise

Hypernyms ("franchise" is a kind of...):

business; business concern; business organisation; business organization; concern (a commercial or industrial enterprise and the people who constitute it)

Derivation:

franchise (grant a franchise to)

Sense 3

Meaning:

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

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

enfranchisement; franchise

Hypernyms ("franchise" is a kind of...):

legal right (a right based in law)

Domain category:

jurisprudence; law (the collection of rules imposed by authority)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "franchise"):

right to vote; suffrage; vote (a legal right guaranteed by the 15th amendment to the US Constitution; guaranteed to women by the 19th amendment)

• FRANCHISE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they franchise    ... he / she / it franchises   
Past simple: franchised   
Past participle: franchised   
-ing form: franchising   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Grant a franchise to

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

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

certify; licence; license (authorize officially)

Domain category:

commerce; commercialism; mercantilism (transactions (sales and purchases) having the objective of supplying commodities (goods and services))

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody

Derivation:

franchise (an authorization to sell a company's goods or services in a particular place)

franchise (a business established or operated under an authorization to sell or distribute a company's goods or services in a particular area)

 Context examples 

I am but a poor commoner of England myself, and yet I know something of charters, liberties, franchises, usages, privileges, customs, and the like.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)