suffrage Meaning, Definition & Usage

noun a legal right guaranteed by the 15th amendment to the US Constitution; guaranteed to women by the 19th amendment
right to vote; vote.
- American women got the vote in 1920

F., fr. L. suffragium; perhaps originally, a broken piece, a potsherd, used in voting, and fr. sub under + the root of frangere to break. See Break.

A vote given in deciding a controverted question, or in the choice of a man for an office or trust; the formal expression of an opinion; assent; vote.
I ask your voices and your suffrages. Shak.
Testimony; attestation; witness; approval.
Lactantius and St. Austin confirm by their suffrage the observation made by heathen writers. Atterbury.

Every miracle is the suffrage of Heaven to the truth of a doctrine. South.
(Eccl.) (a) A short petition, as those after the creed in matins and evensong. (b) A prayer in general, as one offered for the faithful departed. Shipley.
I firmly believe that there is a purgatory, and that the souls therein detained are helped by the suffrages of the faithful. Creed of Pope Pius IV.
Aid; assistance. A Latinism Obs. 5. The right to vote; franchise.