enfranchisement

noun

1
as in emancipation
the act of setting free from slavery the Emancipation Proclamation was merely the first step in the full enfranchisement of African-Americans

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2
as in suffrage
the right to formally express one's position or will in an election a time when enfranchisement was limited to white males who owned property

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of enfranchisement And in the young republic, enfranchisement quickly expanded further, with perhaps 80 percent of adult white men—90 percent in some states—coming to hold the right to vote. — Yoni Appelbaum, The Atlantic, 8 June 2026 Many claim that with the abolition of slavery and the enfranchisement of women, and many other new laws like civil rights legislation and changing gender norms, there has been great progress. — Literary Hub, 12 Dec. 2025 In theory, this transition inaugurates a chapter of enfranchisement, but in the next scene the Senegalese businessmen are in suits, and the white men return with briefcases full of money as bribes. — Lovia Gyarkye, IndieWire, 19 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for enfranchisement
  1. emancipation
  2. suffrage
  3. liberation
Noun
  • Marked by restless lines, these works depict a woman tentatively emerging from a cocoon in a ritual of transformation and emancipation.
    — Tatiane de Assis, ARTnews.com, 21 Oct. 2026
  • Their courtroom victory in January 1856 led to one of the largest legal emancipations in US history, and certainly the largest anywhere west of Texas.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 15 Oct. 2026
Definition of emancipation
Noun
  • During the state elections in 1967, Jagdish Master, a teacher turned activist, challenged the veto of the landlords over Dalit suffrage by escorting a group of Dalits to a polling booth in Ekwari, a village in Bihar’s Bhojpur district.
    — Asim Ali, Time, 24 Oct. 2026
  • August 26th, 1970 Feminists march in New York City on August 26, 1970 on the 50th anniversary of the passing of the Nineteenth Amendment which granted American women full suffrage.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 16 Oct. 2026
Definition of suffrage
Noun
  • For the Kurdish liberation movement, reproduction is not a matter of individual rights like in Western feminism; rather the female body is a sovereign zone of political warfare.
    — Encyclopedia Britannica, Encyclopedia Britannica, 27 Oct. 2026
  • Furani deemed the current state of affairs a natural consequence of Zionist nationalism, and invited Walzer to flee the sinking ship of Zionism and board the ark of Islam and Palestinian liberation.
    — Jordi Graupera, New Yorker, 22 Oct. 2026
Definition of liberation

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enfranchisement
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Cite this Entry

“Enfranchisement.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/enfranchisement. Accessed 28 Oct. 2026.

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