Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Suffrage |
SuffrageNoun1. A legal right guaranteed by the 15th amendment to the US constitution; guaranteed to women by the 19th amendment; "American women got the vote in 1920". Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "suffrage" was first used: 12th century. (references) |
| Domain | Definition |
Satire | SUFFRAGE, n. Expression of opinion by means of a ballot. The right of suffrage (which is held to be both a privilege and a duty) means, as commonly interpreted, the right to vote for the man of another man's choice, and is highly prized. Refusal to do so has the bad name of "incivism." The incivilian, however, cannot be properly arraigned for his crime, for there is no legitimate accuser. If the accuser is himself guilty he has no standing in the court of opinion; if not, he profits by the crime, for A's abstention from voting gives greater weight to the vote of B. By female suffrage is meant the right of a woman to vote as some man tells her to. It is based on female responsibility, which is somewhat limited. The woman most eager to jump out of her petticoat to assert her rights is first to jump back into it when threatened with a switching for misusing them. Source: Devil's Dictionary. |
Literature | Suffrage means primarily the hough or pastern of a horse; so called because it bends under, and not over, like the knee-joint. When a horse is lying down and wants to rise on his legs, it is this joint which is brought into action; and when the horse stands on his legs it is these "ankle-joints" which support him. Metaphorically, voters are the pastern joints of a candidate, whereby he is supported. A suffragan is a titular bishop who is appointed to assist a prelate; and in relation to an archbishop all bishops are suffragans. The archbishop is the horse, and the bishops are his pasterns. Source: Brewer's Dictionary. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
Universal suffrage is the extension of voting privileges to all adults, without distinction to race, sex, belief or social status. It's usually considered the hallmark of modern democracies.
Equal suffrage is a term sometimes confused with Universal suffrage, although its meaning is the removal of graded votes, where a voter could possess a number of votes in accordance with income, wealth or social status.
Census suffrage is the opposite of Equal suffrage: the suffrage is limited, usually to the propertied classes, but can still be universal, i.e. including for instance women or blacks granted they meet the census.
Women's suffrage was the goal of the Suffragettes, who led a major Liberal and Democratic movement of the early 20th century, protesting vigorously for many years demanding equality with men and the right to vote. Prominent suffragettes include Emmeline Pankhurst, Susan B. Anthony, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton.
Historically, many groups have been excluded from the right to vote, on various grounds. Sometimes this exclusion is an explicit policy, clearly stated in the electoral laws; at other times it is implemented in practice by provisions that may seem to have little to do with the exclusion actually being implemented (e.g. poll taxes and literacy requirements used to keep African-Americans in the pre-Civil Rights Era American South from voting.) And sometimes a group will be permitted to vote, but the electoral system or institutions of government will be purposely designed to give them less influence than other more favoured groups.
The legitimacy of democratic government is derived from suffrage.
Up until the 19th century, many Western democracies had property qualifications in their electoral laws, that meant that only people with a certain degree of wealth could vote. Today these laws have largely been abolished. However in some "democratic" countries this still applies in practice (although perhaps unintentionally) even though not in law; most democratic countries require an address for the electors to be qualified to vote, this, in practice excludes all those who are not fortunate enough to have achieved enough wealth as to permit them to own or rent living quarters.Ethnic or Racial Exclusion
See universal suffrageExclusion on grounds of Class
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Suffrage."
Synonyms: SuffrageSynonyms: right to vote (n), vote (n). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Government | Election, poll, ballot, vote, referendum, recall, initiative, voice, suffrage, plumper, cumulative vote, plebiscitum, plebiscite, vox populi; electioneering; voting; Verb: elective franchise; straight ticket; opinion poll, popularity poll. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Suffrage |
| English words defined with "suffrage": Frances Elizabeth Caroline Willard ♦ Howe ♦ Jeannette Rankin, Julia Ward Howe ♦ Mary Augusta Arnold Ward, Mrs. Humphrey Ward ♦ Pot-walloper ♦ Rankin ♦ Victoria Clafin Woodhull ♦ ward, Willard, Woodhull. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "suffrage": FAWES ♦ LAW ♦ SUFFRAGETTE. (references) |
| Non-English Usage: "Suffrage" is also a word in the following language with English translations in parentheses. French (poll, vote, voting). |
| Domain | Usage | |
Movie/TV Titles | Your Girl and Mine: A Woman Suffrage Play (1914) Suffrage and the Man (1912) For the Cause of Suffrage (1909) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title |
Books |
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
 | My dear lady, I go further than believing in woman suffrage, I maintain that man and woman are equal in every way : Oh professor! now you're bragging. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | The latest suffrage recruit. Credit: Library of Congress. |
 | The apotheosis of suffrage. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | Woman suffrage headquarters in Upper Euclid Avenue, Cleveland--A. (at extreme right) is Miss Belle Sherwin, President, National League of Women Voters; B. is Judge Florence E. Allen (holding the flag); C. is Mrs. Malcolm McBride. Credit: Library of Congress. |
 | An authors evening for suffrage / p. Credit: Library of Congress; photo by Paul Thompson.. |  | Cadillaqua auto parade, 1912, women's suffrage section. Credit: Library of Congress. |
 | The Detroit news timely topics. Suffrage week in Tokio [sic]. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | Breaking in suffrage speakers - Mrs. E.R. Smith. Credit: Library of Congress. |
 | Suffrage parade 3/3/13. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | Statues and sculpture. Suffrage leaders Mott, Anthony, and Stanton in U.S. Capitol basement I. Credit: Library of Congress. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
| Author | Quotation |
Susan B. Anthony | Suffrage is the pivotal right. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | |
| Author | Date | Quotation |
US Constitution | 1791 | The Congress, whenever two thirds of both Houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose Amendments to this Constitution, or, on the Application of the Legislatures of two thirds of the several States, shall call a Convention for proposing Amendments, which, in either Case, shall be valid to all Intents and Purposes, as Part of this Constitution, when ratified by the Legislatures of three fourths of the several States, or by Conventions in three fourths thereof, as the one or the other Mode of Ratification may be proposed by the Congress; Provided that no Amendment which may be made prior to the Year One thousand eight hundred and eight shall in any Manner affect the first and fourth Clauses in the Ninth Section of the first Article; and that no State, without its Consent, shall be deprived of its equal Suffrage in the Senate. (reference) |
United Nations | 1948 | The will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government; this will shall be expressed in periodic and genuine elections which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and shall be held by secret vote or by equivalent free voting procedures. (reference) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Title | Author | Quote |
Les Miserables | Hugo, Victor | What universal suffrage has done in its freedom and its sovereignty cannot be undone by the street. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Business | The Government is elected on the basis of universal suffrage and secret balloting. (references) | |
Economic History | Algeria | Algeria has universal suffrage. (references) |
Dominica | Councils elected by universal suffrage govern most towns. (references) | |
Romania | Deputies and senators are elected for 4-year terms by universal suffrage. (references) | |
Minorities | Japan | The courts have consistently ruled that limiting the vote to citizens is constitutional, but that the Diet could legislate suffrage for foreign residents. (references) |
Japan | In March 1999, the Osaka Prefectural Assembly passed a measure granting permanent residents local suffrage, becoming the third prefecture to pass such a bill. (references) | |
Political Economy | Djibouti | Presidential elections are held every six years by universal suffrage. (references) |
Political Rights | Somalia | Both of the Puntland and Somaliland administrations provide for universal suffrage. (references) |
Kuwait | There is no universal suffrage; only about 14.8 percent of citizens have the right to vote. (references) | |
Belize | All elections are held by secret ballot, and suffrage is universal for citizens 18 years of age and older. (references) | |
Women | Iraq | It has enacted laws to protect women from exploitation in the workplace and from sexual harassment; to permit women to join the regular army, Popular Army, and police forces; and to equalize women's rights in divorce, land ownership, taxation, and suffrage. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| Speaker | Term | Phrase(s) |
John Adams | 1797-1801 | If that solitary suffrage can be obtained by foreign nations by flattery or menaces, by fraud or violence, by terror, intrigue, or venality, the Government may not be the choice of the American people, but of foreign nations. |
Ulysses S. Grant | 1869-1877 | The question of suffrage is one which is likely to agitate the public so long as a portion of the citizens of the nation are excluded from its privileges in any State. |
Rutherford Hayes | 1877-1881 | Universal suffrage should rest upon universal education. |
William H. Taft | 1909-1913 | There was a time when Northerners who sympathized with the Negro in his necessary struggle for better conditions sought to give him the suffrage as a protection to enforce its exercise against the prevailing sentiment of the South. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| "Suffrage" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 96.41% of the time. "Suffrage" is used about 306 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 96.41% | 295 | 16,921 |
| Lexical Verb (base form) | 1.96% | 6 | 143,867 |
| Noun (proper) | 1.31% | 4 | 175,879 |
| Lexical Verb (infinitive) | 0.33% | 1 | 339,140 |
| Total | 100.00% | 306 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expressions using "suffrage": female suffrage ♦ universal suffrage ♦ woman suffrage ♦ women's suffrage. Additional references. | |
| Hypenated Usage | |
Ending with "suffrage": anti-suffrage. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Language | Translations for "suffrage"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Albanian | votë (vote), e drejtë vote. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Arabic | حق الإقتراع (ballot, vote), صلاة قصيرة. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bulgarian | гласуване (ballot, poll, vote, voting), вот (vote), избирателно право (franchise). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Chinese | 参"权. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Czech | volební právo (franchise), hlasovací právo (vote). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Danish | udelukkende valgret for maend (male only suffrage, manhood only sufffrage), Forsamlingen udarbejder forslag til afholdelse af almindelige direkte valg (the Assembly shall draw up Proposals for elections by direct universal suffrage), Bruxelles-akten af 20.september 1976 om almindelige direkte valg af repraesentanterne i Forsamlingen (the Brussels Act of 20 September 1976 concerning the election of the representatives of the Assembly by direct universal suffrage). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Dutch | stem (faction, party, side, voice, vote). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Finnish | ääni(vaalissa) (vote). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
French | suffragant (suffragan), voix électorale. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
German | Stimmrecht (right to vote, voting right). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Greek | δικαίωμα ψήφου (franchise), ψηφοφορία (ballot, poll, voting), ψήφοσ (ballot, vote, vote teller). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hebrew | זכות "צבע" (franchise, vote), זכות בחיר" (franchise). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hungarian | szavazat (poll, voice, vote), választójog (elective franchise, franchise). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Indonesian | hak pilih (option). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Italian | suffragio (vote). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Kanji | 被選挙権 (eligibility for election), 選挙権 , 参"権 (franchise). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Katakana | ひせ"きょけ" (eligibility for election), さ"せいけ" (franchise), せ"きょけ". (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Korean | 거권. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Manx | coraa (communication, voice, vox). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Pig Latin | uffragesay sufrágio (voice, vote), voto eleitoral (electoral vote), voto (voice, vote, vow), votação (election, poll, polling), direito de voto (franchise). (various references) sufragiu (approval, voice, vote), vot (ballot, division, franchise, voice, vote, voting), preferinţã (choice, liking, particular, preference), drept de vot. (various references) одобрение (acclamation, acclamations, applause, approbation, approval, approvement, aprobation, encouragement, o.k., ok, recognition, sanction), избирательное право (elective franchise). (various references) pravo glasa (franchise), izborni glas. (various references) sufragio (franchise, vote). (various references) rösträtt (franchise). (various references) สิทธิในการเลือกตั้ง, การสว"สั้นๆ, การออกเสียงเลือกตั้ง. (various references) seçme hakkı (choice, freedom, option, right of choice), oy hakkı (ballot, the vote, voting power), oy (ballot vote, plumper, vote). (various references) голосування (ballot, division, poll, polling, vote, voting), голос (call, organ, voice), право голосу (franchise, vote). (various references) sự bỏ phiếu tán th nh, sự bỏ phiếu đ"ng ý quyền đi bầu sự thích hơn, sự bỏ phiếu (voting). (various references) pleidlais (vote). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | suffragium. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "suffrage": suffrages, suffragette, suffragettes. (additional references) | |
| |
"Suffrage" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: saffra, suffage, suffarage, sufferage, suffragi, suffragio. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "suffrage" (pronounced su"frij) |
| 3 | -r i j | arrearage, carriage, disparage, forage, intermarriage, marriage, Partridge, remarriage, umbrage, undercarriage. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
Direct Anagrams: gauffers. | |
| Words within the letters "a-e-f-f-g-r-s-u" | |
-1 letter: gaffers, gauffer. | |
-2 letters: argues, augers, feuars, gaffer, gaffes, gruffs, ruffes, sauger, suffer. | |
-3 letters: agers, agues, argue, argus, auger, aures, fares, fears, feuar, frags, frugs, gaffe, gaffs, gaurs, gears, grues, gruff, guars, guffs, raffs, rages, ruffe, ruffs, rugae, safer, sager, sarge, sugar, surge, urase, ureas, urges, ursae, usage. | |
-4 letters: ager, ages, ague, ares, arfs, arse. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-e-f-f-g-r-s-u" | |
+1 letter: suffrages. | |
+3 letters: suffragette. | |
+4 letters: suffragettes. | |
+5 letters: understaffing. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Images: Slideshow 7. Images: Photo Album 8. Quotations: Familiar | 9. Quotations: Historic 10. Quotations: Fiction 11. Quotations: Non-fiction 12. Quotations: Speeches | 13. Usage Frequency 14. Expressions 15. Expressions: Internet 16. Translations: Modern | 17. Translations: Ancient 18. Derivations 19. Rhymes 20. Anagrams | 21. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
