enfranchise
/ɛnˈfɹænt͡ʃaɪz/
enfranchise means to grant the franchise to an entity, specifically:; To grant the privilege of voting to a person or group of people. It carries an Arena rating of 1668, earned across 3 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, enfranchise ranks #940 of 13,218 for Most Malleable Words, #2,692 of 13,218 for Words That Escaped Their Books, #4,031 of 13,218 for Best Fossil-Poetry Words, #4,070 of 13,218 for Most Ponderous Words.
enfranchise is pronounced /ɛnˈfɹænt͡ʃaɪz/.
Why “enfranchise” is a great word
To grant the privilege of voting, municipal rights, or freedom from servitude. From Old French enfranchir ("to set free, enfranchise"), from en- ("in, make") + franchir ("to set free"), equivalent to en- + franchise. Unlike “manumit,” which specifically releases from slavery, or “authorize,” which grants a general official power, to enfranchise is to bestow the particular, formal instruments of personhood within a body politic. It is the drop of ink on a charter that transforms a subject into a citizen, the metallic click of a ballot box accepting a vote, and the legal parchment that dissolves a chain of servitude—the deliberate mechanism by which a society widens its circle of the recognized.
Etymology
From Old French enfranchir (“to set free, enfranchise”), from en- (“in”) + franchir (“to set free”), equivalent to en- + franchise.
verb
- To grant the franchise to an entity, specifically:; To grant the privilege of voting to a person or group of people.
- To grant the franchise to an entity, specifically:; To grant municipal or parliamentary rights to an entity such as a city or constituency.
- To grant the franchise to an entity, specifically:; To grant freedom from slavery, duty or servitude.“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.”
- to convert a copyhold estate into a freehold estate
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