1.
[syn: affranchise, enfranchise]
2. grant voting rights;
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Enfranchise \En*fran"chise\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Enfranchised;
p. pr. & vb. n. Enfranchising.] [Pref. en- + franchise: cf.
F. enfranchir.]
1. To set free; to liberate from slavery, prison, or any
binding power. --Bacon.
[1913 Webster]
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; to
give the right to vote.
[1913 Webster]
3. To receive as denizens; to naturalize; as, to enfranchise
foreign words. --I. Watts.
[1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
enfranchise
v 1: grant freedom to; as from slavery or servitude; "Slaves
were enfranchised in the mid-19th century" [syn:
affranchise, enfranchise]
2: grant voting rights [ant: disenfranchise, disfranchise]
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:
32 Moby Thesaurus words for "enfranchise":
affranchise, authorize, certificate, certify, charter, deliver,
disenthrall, emancipate, empower, enable, entitle, extricate,
franchise, free, give official sanction, give power, legalize,
legitimize, liberate, license, manumit, patent, privilege, ratify,
release, rescue, sanction, set at large, set at liberty, set free,
validate, warrant