as in to liberate
to set free (as from slavery or confinement)
in a way, modern labor-saving appliances enfranchised people, giving them much more leisure time
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Recent Examples of enfranchise
After the Third Reform Act of 1884, six of 10 adult Englishmen were enfranchised.
—
Geoffrey Wheatcroft, New York Times, 18 Jan. 2025
Millions were enfranchised when women got the vote in 1920, but Black women were mostly excluded from voting due to legal discrimination.
—JSTOR Daily, 18 Sep. 2024
In 1972, after the Twenty-sixth Amendment lowered the voting age from twenty-one to eighteen, some twenty-five million additional Americans were enfranchised in time for the Presidential election.
—E. Tammy Kim, The New Yorker, 27 June 2024
The Fifteenth Amendment enfranchised Black men, implicitly creating a bloc of voters to counterbalance the power of former Confederates in the South.
—Jelani Cobb, The New Yorker, 14 Jan. 2024
See All Example Sentences for enfranchise
Geoffrey Wheatcroft, New York Times, 18 Jan. 2025
Millions were enfranchised when women got the vote in 1920, but Black women were mostly excluded from voting due to legal discrimination.
—JSTOR Daily, 18 Sep. 2024
In 1972, after the Twenty-sixth Amendment lowered the voting age from twenty-one to eighteen, some twenty-five million additional Americans were enfranchised in time for the Presidential election.
—E. Tammy Kim, The New Yorker, 27 June 2024
The Fifteenth Amendment enfranchised Black men, implicitly creating a bloc of voters to counterbalance the power of former Confederates in the South.
—Jelani Cobb, The New Yorker, 14 Jan. 2024
See All Example Sentences for enfranchise
Recent Examples of Synonyms for enfranchise
Verb
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Their freedom came more than two years after President Abraham Lincoln liberated slaves in the Confederacy by signing the Emancipation Proclamation during the Civil War.—
Ani Freedman,
Fortune,
20 June 2025
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Two-and-a-half years after Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation, the enslaved people of Texas learned — via the victorious Union Army — that they were liberated.—
New York Daily News Editorial Board,
New York Daily News,
19 June 2025
Verb
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Short of the savings being placed in a much bigger coffee can, government spending cuts born of efficiency, headcount reduction, mandate reduction, or all three would have just freed up money for Congress to spend in new ways.—
John Tamny,
Forbes.com,
21 June 2025
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Philip Andrew Douglass, 42, was freed on bond after an initial appearance before U.S. Magistrate Judge David Keesler.—
Joe Marusak,
Charlotte Observer,
21 June 2025
Verb
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For every container of fireworks arriving at a U.S. port, importers must pay the tariff upfront, before customs even thinks about releasing the goods.—
Richard Howells,
Forbes.com,
27 June 2025
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Lyons was released from Tottenham’s youth system at age 16 and fell into depression before dying by suicide 10 years later.—
Colin Millar,
New York Times,
27 June 2025
Verb
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This kept their traditions alive until their ancestors were emancipated in the 1860s.—
Ben Abrams,
NPR,
19 June 2025
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Urging Lincoln to now issue an executive order for emancipating the slaves, Sumner was firmly rebuffed.—
Zaakir Tameez
June 11,
Literary Hub,
11 June 2025
Verb
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For one prospective graduate student, an admission to Harvard’s Graduate School of Education had rescued her educational dreams.—
Sara Braun,
Fortune,
21 June 2025
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In New Hampshire, the state says people may be required to pay back the costs to rescue them.—
Rong-Gong Lin II,
Los Angeles Times,
20 June 2025
Verb
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Sabalenka, one of the favorites to lift the Wimbledon title this year, had saved four match points in a tiebreak to escape 2022 champion Elena Rybakina the previous day, one of them coming via a fortunate net cord.—
James Hansen,
New York Times,
21 June 2025
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Republicans in the Senate proposed zeroing out funding for the CFPB, the landmark agency set up in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, to save $6.4 billion.—
Lisa Mascaro,
Los Angeles Times,
20 June 2025
Cite this Entry
“Enfranchise.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/enfranchise. Accessed 30 Jun. 2025.
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