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Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- transitive verb To endow with the rights of citizenship, especially the right to vote.
- transitive verb To free, as from bondage.
- transitive verb To bestow a franchise on.
from The Century Dictionary.
- The feudal law, to free from the obligations of feudal tenure, as to convert a copyhold estate into a freehold.
- To set free; liberate, as from slavery; hence, to free or release from custody, bad habits, or any restraint.
- To make free of a state, city, or corporation; admit to the privileges of a freeman or citizen; admit to citizenship.
- Specifically To confer the electoral franchise upon; admit to the right of voting or taking part in public elections: as, to
enfranchise a class of people; to enfranchise (in Great Britain) a borough or a university. - To endenizen; naturalize.
- Synonyms Manumit, Liberate, etc. See
emancipate .
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- transitive verb To set free; to liberate from slavery, prison, or any binding power.
- transitive verb 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; to give the right to vote.
- transitive verb To receive as denizens; to naturalize.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- verb To
grant thefranchise to an entity, specifically:
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb grant freedom to; as from slavery or servitude
- verb grant voting rights
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
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Examples
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Along with helping "enfranchise" Florida and Michigan Democratic voters (I voted in the Florida primary so I don't feel I was disenfranchised), I hope Senator Clinton will also repudiate racism in the President primary, as well as sexism. wsu for obama
Clinton supporters to swarm DC over Florida and Michigan 2008
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Depends on whether she manages to talk the Democratic Party into changing the rules -- retroactively -- to "enfranchise" Florida and Michigan by recertifying their delegates.
Does Hillary's Florida Win Matter? Steven Barnes 2008
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Vertical and Diamond cut a special deal to specifically target and "enfranchise" direct market comic book shops, by offering them a limited edition of Vertical's most important release of 2008.
Comics212 2009
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A weaker economy of course means we need more government control There are more power grabs coming, but first he needs to enfranchise a whole new group of voters.
Coyote Blog » Blog Archive » Government Stimulus in One Picture 2010
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Hoping to capitalize on his newfound popularity as the country's foremost dispenser of righteous death, the president will propose a pathway to citizenship that could enfranchise millions of immigrants currently residing in the U.S.
HUFFPOST HILL - Obama To Outline Immigration Overhaul Eliot Nelson 2011
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Daron and James argue that the elites enfranchise the poor to ward off revolution.
Shimer on Acemoglu, Arnold Kling | EconLog | Library of Economics and Liberty 2009
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This reaction was born, ironically, from the very reforms which were to enfranchise men.
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The dinner was acelebration of the thirty-sixth anniversary of the day the white supremacist government of Rhodesia announced a Unilateral Declaration of Independence from Great Britain, which was pressingit to enfranchise black people.
Matthew Yglesias » Israel Deserves Better Defenders Than Andrew Roberts 2010
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In the modern world, participatory justice demands that the political system enfranchise the entire population and that there be a system of checks and balances to prevent corruption and the concentration of power in the hands of the wealthy and the few.
Rabbi Lawrence Troster: Justice Not Triage: The Year Of The Protester Rabbi Lawrence Troster 2011
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Porter -- who Time described as a pert, brown-eyed, dark haired, nail-biting, chain-smoking, go-getter -- helped enfranchise American women to the investment world, teaching them core concepts and strategies so they need not ask for a man's help to take the reins of what Porter termed "pocketbook issues."
Pamela Yellen: When "Women and Financial Literacy" Was Still an Oxymoron, Sylvia Porter Came to the Rescue Pamela Yellen 2011
Related Words
synonyms (33)
Words with the same meaning
- affranchise
- authorize
- certificate
- certify
- charter
- deliver
- disenthrall
- emancipate
- empower
- enable
- entitle
- extricate
- franchise
- free
- give official sanction
- give power
- legalize
- legitimize
- liberate
- license
- manumit
- naturalize
- patent
- privilege
- ratify
- release
- rescue
- sanction
- set at large
- set at liberty
- set free
- validate
- warrant
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