Enfranchise

//ɛnˈfɹænt͡ʃaɪz// verb

verb ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Verb
  1. 1
    To grant the franchise to an entity, specifically:; To grant the privilege of voting to a person or group of people. transitive
  2. 2
    grant voting rights wordnet
  3. 3
    To grant the franchise to an entity, specifically:; To grant municipal or parliamentary rights to an entity such as a city or constituency. transitive
  4. 4
    grant freedom to; as from slavery or servitude wordnet
  5. 5
    To grant the franchise to an entity, specifically:; To grant freedom from slavery, duty or servitude. transitive

    "Parental control had been so decisive in Louisa's case that marriage bonds had not hitherto enfranchised her from the former; she, therefore, at the proper time of light, appeared on the arm of Signor Riccardini, and laid her purse on the lap of her mother (who she knew had at least three hundred pounds in possession), at the risk of being deemed extravagant by her husband."

Show 1 more definition
  1. 6
    to convert a copyhold estate into a freehold estate England, Wales, historical

Synonyms

All synonyms
affranchiseaffranchiseauthorizecertificatecertifycharter

Example

More examples

"Parental control had been so decisive in Louisa's case that marriage bonds had not hitherto enfranchised her from the former; she, therefore, at the proper time of light, appeared on the arm of Signor Riccardini, and laid her purse on the lap of her mother (who she knew had at least three hundred pounds in possession), at the risk of being deemed extravagant by her husband."

Etymology

From Old French enfranchir (“to set free, enfranchise”), from en- (“in”) + franchir (“to set free”), equivalent to en- + franchise.

More for "enfranchise"

SynonymsSentencesPronunciationTranslate

Next best steps

Find stronger synonymsSee usage examplesCheck pronunciationBrowse writing guides

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.