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

With rising inflation, a nationwide cost-of-living crisis and the sense that basic services are failing, many here feel increasingly disenfranchised, disillusioned and dismissed by those in power in London. —Chantal Da Silva, NBC News, 3 July 2024

As the economy became uncertain, employers reclaimed control, leveraging an extraordinary number of layoffs that destabilized and disenfranchised workers. —Ann Kowal Smith, Forbes, 30 Sep. 2024

Cat owners’ disenfranchised guilt and its predictive value on owners’ depression and anxiety Emilie Lucchesi has written for some of the country's largest newspapers, including The New York Times, Chicago Tribune and Los Angeles Times. —Discover Magazine, 26 Sep. 2024

Yet right across the street, in the shadow of the state capitol, sit some of the state’s most disenfranchised citizens. —Maya Homan, USA TODAY, 2 Aug. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1818, in the meaning defined above