censitary suffrage
- noun
- /ˈsɛn.sɪˌtɛr.i ˈsʌf.ɪdʒ/
- Formal
:
sufragio censitario
- During the 19th century, many European countries implemented censitary suffrage to limit political power to the wealthy.
Examples
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In some colonies, censitary suffrage meant that only landowners could vote in elections.
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The reformers demanded an end to censitary suffrage in favor of universal suffrage.
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Many countries have implemented censitary suffrage to limit voting rights.
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The concept of censitary suffrage often leads to debates about equality.
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In the early 20th century, movements arose to abolish censitary suffrage and establish equal voting rights for all citizens.
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Historically, censitary suffrage allowed wealthy voters to have a greater influence in government decisions.
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Under censitary suffrage, individuals with higher property values were granted more voting power than those with less.
Synonyms
A voting system where people's votes count more if they are richer
How Egalitarian
1
5.1
- Specialized
- Formal
1
6.6
Surface Forms
Morphology
censitary + suffrage
The overall meaning ('voting rights limited by rank, income, property or taxes') is compositionally built from 'suffrage' (the right to vote) and the modifier 'censitary' (relating to a census/qualification), so the sense is derivable if a learner knows the rare adjective. However, 'censitary' is an uncommon, specialized form and would likely be unknown to an average B1 learner, so the relation is only partially transparent in typical learner knowledge.
Etymology
Censitary suffrage may come from old systems where officials first counted how much tax or land each person had and then gave the 'vote' only to those above a certain level. The part censitary is about that counting and suffrage means the 'vote', so the image of a list of richer names helps explain why it means a voting right based on money or property.