Voteless

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Lacking the legal or social right to participate in elections
2. Not permitted to cast a vote in political or organizational decisions
3. Excluded from the opportunity to express a choice in a voting process

Etymology: "Voteless" is about as transparent as English compounds get: it joins "vote" with the suffix "-less," which means "lacking" or "without," so the word simply describes someone or something without a vote. The suffix "-less" is one of the oldest productive endings in the language, descending from an Old English word meaning "free from" or "devoid of," and it has been attached to nouns for centuries to form adjectives like "hopeless" and "endless." The base "vote" is the more interesting half of the story. It came into English from Latin "votum," meaning a vow or solemn promise, especially one made to a god, so the original sense had little to do with ballots. The shift toward choosing a candidate by voice or ballot came later, as the notion of a pledge or expressed wish was applied to collective decisions. "Voteless" therefore sits at the end of a long semantic path that began with religious promises.

Synonyms: disenfranchised, unrepresented, unvoiced, marginalized, excluded

Antonyms: represented, empowered, included, voting, active