Definition of disenfranchise
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Examples of disenfranchise in a Sentence
They disenfranchised poor people by making property ownership a requirement for registering to vote.
Recent Examples of disenfranchise from the Web
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Groups challenging the practice said Ohio was unfairly disenfranchising eligible Ohio voters.
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The practice, in which private citizens in Ohio challenged the eligibility of African-American voters, was widely seen as a Republican strategy to disenfranchise minorities.
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That law was mostly struck down by a federal court this summer, with judges ruling the law had been designed to disenfranchise minorities.
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But a federal court struck most of the law down in July, saying the law had been designed to disenfranchise minorities.
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By proposing rules that would disenfranchise nearly 50% of all drivers, the City of Seattle has embarked on a fundamentally unfair, undemocratic process.
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Indeed, most voting experts say threats of disenfranchising voters are far more worrisome than widespread fraud.
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Civil rights leaders have said that just conducting such an inquiry could disenfranchise or intimidate black voters, and have called for the federal government to intervene.
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Gov. Terry McAuliffe, a Democrat, cast the move as a civil rights victory in a state whose constitutional ban on voting by ex-felons has disenfranchised roughly one in five African-Americans.
These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'disenfranchise'. Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
What Does It Mean to Disenfranchise Someone?
Disenfranchise first appeared in English in the 17th century, preceded for a period of some 200 years by the now uncommon word disfranchise. Though both words are, rather obviously, related to franchise, they have nothing to do with that word’s current sense “a team that is a member of a professional sports league." The original meaning of franchise was “freedom from servitude or restraint.” Although disenfranchise does broadly signify depriving someone of any of a number of legal rights, it is most often used today of withholding the right to vote, or of the diminished social or political status of a marginalized group.
1664
First Known Use of disenfranchise
1664
Other Legal Terms
DISENFRANCHISE Defined for English Language Learners
disenfranchise
playDefinition of disenfranchise for English Language Learners
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: to prevent (a person or group of people) from having the right to vote
DISENFRANCHISE Defined for Kids
disenfranchise
playDefinition of disenfranchise for Students
disenfranchised
;disenfranchising
: to deprive of the right to vote
disenfranchisement
\-ˈfran-ˌchīz-mənt\ nounLaw Dictionary
disenfranchise
playLegal Definition of disenfranchise
disenfranchised
disenfranchising
disenfranchisement
nounSeen and Heard
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