enfranchise Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. verb grant freedom to; as from slavery or servitude
    affranchise.
    • Slaves were enfranchised in the mid-19th century
  2. verb grant voting rights

WordNet

En*fran"chise transitive verb
Etymology
Pref. en- + franchise: cf. F. enfranchir.
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Enfranchised ; present participle & verbal noun Enfranchising
Definitions
  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.

Webster 1913