disenfranchise
/ˌdɪsɪnˈfræntʃaɪz/ (bre, ipa) · /ˌdɪsɪnˈfræntʃaɪz/ (ame, ipa) · /ˌdis-in-ˈfran-ˌchīz/ (ame, mw)
disenfranchise — verb
- disenfranchisepresent simple I / you / we / they
- disenfranchiseshe / she / it
- disenfranchisedpast simple
- disenfranchising-ing form
1. to formally strip an individual or community of legal rights — most often the ab
to formally strip an individual or community of legal rights — most often the ability to vote in elections — so that they lose their voice in political or institutional decisions.
Strict new voter-ID rules in the southern states disenfranchised thousands of elderly Black residents.
transitive: disenfranchise + [group of people]
Renata wrote a long essay arguing that prison sentences should not disenfranchise people for life.
common object: [people] for [duration]
Many young workers feel disenfranchised by housing prices they can never hope to afford.
The 1965 Voting Rights Act was passed to protect citizens who had been disenfranchised for almost a century.
Critics argued that the new district boundaries would disenfranchise rural voters in three counties.
- disfranchise
exact variant spelling, slightly more formal and legal in tone
- marginalize
broader — push to the edges of society or decision-making; need not involve formal rights
- exclude
general; covers everyday social or institutional exclusion, not specifically rights
- enfranchise
direct opposite — grant the vote or formal rights to
- empower
broader opposite — give someone the means or authority to act
文法句型
disenfranchise + [person/group]
be disenfranchised (passive)
用法筆記
Subject is usually a law, policy, institution, or political action — not an individual person. Frequently passive ('be/feel disenfranchised'), especially in the extended sense of feeling powerless or excluded from the system, even when no actual legal right has been taken away.