enfranchise

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   to give a person or group the legal right to vote

   The reform would enfranchise citizens who had previously been excluded from elections.

2. 2
   verb

   historical or formal: to free someone from slavery, legal dependence, or another restriction

   The decree enfranchised the remaining serfs and recognized them as free citizens.

From Old French enfranchir, formed from en- (expressing a change of state) + franc, franche, 'free.' It first meant setting a person free or granting civic privileges; as franchise narrowed to the electoral right, enfranchise became especially associated with granting the vote.

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