disenfranchised

adjective

dis·​en·​fran·​chised ˌdis-in-ˈfran-ˌchīzd 

: deprived of some right, privilege, or immunity

Tough, resourceful, and determined to help her disenfranchised and disenchanted students learn how to learn and love it, Johnson employs a barrage of techniques.

—Donna Seaman

The National Alliance for the Mentally Ill does what it can, but the millions of mentally ill remain the least supported, the most disenfranchised, and the most excluded people in our society today.

—Oliver Sacks

especially : deprived of the right to vote

The value of the right to vote, however, given the reality of racial voting patterns, will depend on whether it translates into political power and influence for the previously disenfranchised minority.

—Alan Freeman

Examples of disenfranchised in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Published under King’s pseudonym Richard Bachman, The Running Man is set in an America in 2025 under a totalitarian regime that uses violent game shows to placate the disenfranchised masses. —Chris Gardner, HollywoodReporter, 3 Apr. 2025

Limited social mobility leads to alienation of the disenfranchised, and ossification. —Suwanna Gauntlett, Forbes, 21 Mar. 2025

The host is sensitive to the idea that a weekend in Mexico may seem classist for someone who speaks to and for the disenfranchised. —Chris Willman, Variety, 23 Jan. 2025

On April 5, disenfranchised Americans are being encouraged to protest the Trump administration's policies as part of a national movement in myriad cities, hosted by a group of older Americans called Third Act. —Paul Du Quenoy, MSNBC Newsweek, 27 Mar. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1818, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for disenfranchised

• americanized
• anathematized
• collateralized
• contextualized
• conventionalized
• demilitarized
• demineralized
• departmentalized
• industrialised
• industrialized
• materialised
• materialized