gerrymander

American  

[jer-i-man-der, ger-] / ˈdʒɛr ɪˌmæn dər, ˈgɛr- /

noun

1. U.S. Politics. the dividing of a state, county, etc., into election districts so as to give one political party a majority in many districts while concentrating the voting strength of the other party into as few districts as possible.

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verb (used with object)

1. U.S. Politics. to subject (a state, county, etc.) to a gerrymander.

gerrymander British  

/ ˈdʒɛrɪˌmændə /

verb

1. to divide the constituencies of (a voting area) so as to give one party an unfair advantage

2. to manipulate or adapt to one's advantage

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noun

1. an act or result of gerrymandering

gerrymander Cultural  

1. To change the boundaries of legislative districts to favor one party over another. Typically, the dominant party in a state legislature (which is responsible for drawing the boundaries of congressional districts) will try to concentrate the opposing party's strength in as few districts as possible, while giving itself likely majorities in as many districts as possible.

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Other Word Forms

• gerrymanderer noun
• gerrymandering noun

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

Example Sentences

On Monday the Court stopped a racial gerrymander in New York.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 3, 2026

The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that Alabama can’t use its congressional map with only one majority Black district, reasoning it was likely a discriminatory racial gerrymander that runs afoul of the Voting Rights Act.

From Washington Times • Jun. 8, 2023

The infamous discussion between three council members and a labor leader focused, after all, on how best to gerrymander the politicians’ districts to benefit them and their Latino allies and hurt their rival colleagues.

From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 17, 2022

And when you present maps to a court, judges are struggling to identify what’s a gerrymander mathematically—many of them inspect gerrymanders visually and say this just doesn’t pass the smell test.

From Slate • May 24, 2022

Will those who seek to excuse the injustice done to the minority in each electorate by the present system of election seriously contend that the same argument justifies the gerrymander?

From Proportional Representation Applied To Party Government by Ashworth, T. R. (Thomas Ramsden)

Related Words

• contrive
• engineer
• finesse
• manipulate