gerrymander
Americannoun
verb (used with object)
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gerrymanders,
present (3rd person singular)
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gerrymandered,
past participle, past
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gerrymandering
present participle
verb
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to divide the constituencies of (a voting area) so as to give one party an unfair advantage
-
to manipulate or adapt to one's advantage
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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gerrymandersimple
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gerrymanderssimple
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have gerrymanderedperfect
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has gerrymanderedperfect
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am gerrymanderingprogressive
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are gerrymanderingprogressive
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is gerrymanderingprogressive
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have been gerrymanderingperfect progressive
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has been gerrymanderingperfect progressive
Past
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gerrymanderedsimple
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had gerrymanderedperfect
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was gerrymanderingprogressive
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were gerrymanderingprogressive
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had been gerrymanderingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of gerrymander
1812, after E. Gerry (governor of Massachusetts, whose party redistricted the state in 1812) + (sala)mander, from the fancied resemblance of the map of Essex County, Mass., to this animal, after the redistricting
Explanation
Some politicians change the boundaries of their voting districts in order to benefit themselves or their political party. To manipulate the boundaries like this — often viewed as unfair — is to gerrymander. The verb gerrymander first appeared in 1812 when Massachusetts governor Elbridge Gerry redrew district boundaries, hoping it would help his party in an upcoming senate election. Then somebody noticed that the new district looked like a salamander, so they combined Gerry and -mander to create the new word gerrymander. And then a newspaper printed a cartoon with a giant salamander making fun of Gerry, which is what happens to politicians who don’t behave.
Vocabulary lists containing gerrymander
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Justice Samuel Alito’s majority opinion gives a detailed history of Section 2 and a tour of the Court’s messy racial gerrymander jurisprudence.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 29, 2026
Ultimately, of course, even if California adopts a principled, automated redistricting system, Texas may gerrymander anyway.
From Slate ● Aug. 19, 2025
For his part, Graves said he never believed his map was an illegal racial gerrymander, as Garcia’s lawsuit asserts.
From Salon ● Mar. 1, 2024
Manning, who currently represents the 6th District, said last week that she would change her mind and run again for Congress should litigation alleging the retooled 6th District is an illegal racial gerrymander is successful.
From Washington Times ● Dec. 14, 2023
Consequently, every apportionment Act involves more or less of the gerrymander.
From Proportional Representation A Study in Methods of Election by John H. Humphreys
Justice McAllister did not explicitly find the State Senate or Assembly maps to be unconstitutional gerrymanders.
From New York Times ● Mar. 31, 2022
The current gerrymander suit was filed long after Earls left the social justice coalition, but while there, she worked on challenges to the state’s gerrymanders with a lawyer in the current case, Allison Riggs.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 29, 2022
The Southern Coalition for Social Justice is holding dozens of seminars across eight states that include how to identify gerrymanders using mapping software, said Jeff Loperfido, the group's senior counsel.
From Reuters ● Aug. 13, 2021
In some states, however, such as Michigan, the gerrymanders have been so heavy-handed and awkward that “those dikes could break,” he said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 2, 2018
A striking instance of this is furnished by the power to nullify legislative gerrymanders.
From The American Judiciary by Simeon E. Baldwin, LLD
Even McKinley, who earlier had been gerrymandered into victory, lost his seat.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 1, 2024
In the meantime, jurors should remember that they each have the independent power to cast a vote that cannot be overridden, overruled, or gerrymandered away.
From Slate ● Aug. 4, 2022
Members wrote folk songs and dressed up in costumes as gerrymandered districts to draw attention to the effort.
From New York Times ● Dec. 29, 2021
There are no gerrymandered voting districts in elections for senators.
From Textbooks ● Jul. 28, 2021
In Ohio, McKinley lost his seat, partly from the revulsion of feeling, but more because the Democrats, who controlled the State Legislature, had gerrymandered his district against him.
From The New Nation by William E. Dodd
If we want durable protection for the rights of all voters and durable constraints on racial gerrymandering, we need an act of Congress.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 6, 2026
The 15th amendment, which prohibits denying or abridging the right to vote on the basis of race, makes racial gerrymandering legally suspect.
From Slate ● Apr. 29, 2026
Speaking with a local radio show, he said “I don’t know if you know what gerrymandering is, but it’s not good.”
From Salon ● Apr. 22, 2026
But in the past, the court also said racial gerrymandering is unconstitutional under the 14th and 15th Amendments.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 4, 2025
He" Lord Burton, "asked why this drastic, this dishonest, this catchpenny, this gerrymandering Bill should have been brought in?....
From Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 104, March 25, 1893 by Various
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
