a privilege of a public nature conferred on an individual, group, or company by a government: a franchise to operate a bus system.
the right or license granted by a company to an individual or group to market its products or services in a specific territory.
a store, restaurant, or other business operating under such a license.
the territory over which such a license extends.
the right to vote: to guarantee the franchise of every citizen.
a privilege arising from the grant of a sovereign or government, or from prescription, which presupposes a grant.
Sports.
the right to own or operate a professional sports team as a member of a league.
a professional sports team.
a player of great talent or popular appeal, considered vitally important to a team's success or future.
a set of creative works and related merchandise that share a fictional world, as films, television shows, books, or games:the Star Wars franchise;the Pokémon franchise.
a legal immunity or exemption from a particular burden, exaction, or the like.
Obsolete. freedom, especially from imprisonment, servitude, or moral restraint.
verb (used with object),fran·chised,fran·chis·ing.
to grant (an individual, company, etc.) a franchise: The corporation has just franchised our local dealer.
enfranchise.
Origin of franchise
1250–1300; Middle English <Old French, derivative of franc free. See frank1
If the only impression you have of Deadpool is Ryan Reynolds mouthing off in the movie franchise, do yourself a favor and pick up this 2012 series by Croatian comic genius Dalibor Talajic.
This Weekend: You’ll Never Bathe the Same Way Again|Joshua Eferighe|August 21, 2020|Ozy
City spokespeople also couldn’t tell reporter MacKenzie Elmer what’s next for the franchise fee agreement immediately after the special Council meeting.
Morning Report: City Walks a Fine Line With Franchise Fee Deal|Voice of San Diego|August 7, 2020|Voice of San Diego
The Council won’t get to see the final franchise agreement before it goes out to market anyway, Council President Georgette Gómez said during the meeting.
The City Is Walking a Fine Line in Demanding Millions From Its Next Power Provider|MacKenzie Elmer|August 7, 2020|Voice of San Diego
The franchise agreement is considered San Diego’s most powerful leverage point against investor-owned utilities, and there’s really no standard for what the city can or can’t request.
What Power San Diego Has Over Its Power Company|MacKenzie Elmer|August 4, 2020|Voice of San Diego
“We’re definitely focused on creating franchises,” co-CEO Reed Hastings said on a call with investors last week.
Can Netflix create the next James Bond?|Adam Epstein|July 20, 2020|Quartz
Then, under the bold headline “Rebooting Spider-Man,” Robinov describes a broad vision for the future of the franchise.
Exclusive: Sony Hack Reveals Studio's Detailed Plans For Another ‘Spider-Man’ Reboot|William Boot|December 13, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Another angle Robinov suggests as a possibility for Peter Parker/Spider-Man is a franchise reboot tackling Spidey as… an adult.
Exclusive: Sony Hack Reveals Studio's Detailed Plans For Another ‘Spider-Man’ Reboot|William Boot|December 13, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The NFL cares about only one thing: protecting the 32 franchise owners.
Roger Goodell and the NFL’s Path to Power|Robert Silverman|December 11, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The Hunger Games franchise is already a deeply political saga, chronicling a growing rebellion against a tyrannical regime.
In politics, the right to vote. The Constitution left the determination of the qualifications of voters to the states. In the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century, states usually restricted the franchise to white men who owned specified amounts of property. Gradually, poll taxes were substituted for property requirements. Before the Civil War, the voting rights of blacks were severely restricted, but the Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution, declared ratified in 1870, prohibited states from abridging the right to vote on the basis of race. Nevertheless, southern states used a variety of legal ploys to restrict black voting until passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Women were not guaranteed the right to vote in federal elections until ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920. In 1971 the Twenty-sixth Amendment lowered the voting age from twenty-one to eighteen. (See suffrage and suffragette.)
notes for franchise
Losing the right to vote, called disfranchisement, is most commonly caused by failing to reregister, a procedure that is required every time a person changes residence.
Cultural definitions for franchise (2 of 2)
franchise
In business, a relationship between a manufacturer and a retailer in which the manufacturer provides the product, sales techniques, and other kinds of managerial assistance, and the retailer promises to market the manufacturer's product rather than that of competitors. For example, most automobile dealerships are franchises. The vast majority of fast food chains are also run on the franchise principle, with the retailer paying to use the brand name.