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
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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:
But that same precedent mostly allowed lawmakers to gerrymander for the purpose of ensuring minority citizens had minority representation corresponding to their share of the population.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 6, 2026
Ultimately, of course, even if California adopts a principled, automated redistricting system, Texas may gerrymander anyway.
From Slate ● Aug. 19, 2025
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
Would open nonpartisan primaries using ranked voting eliminate some of the incentives to gerrymander?
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 13, 2022
From this source we get "dark horse," "the gray mare is the better horse," "barrel of money," "buncombe," "gerrymander," "scalawag," "henchman," "logrolling," "pulling the wires," "taking the stump," "machine," "slate," etc.
From How to Speak and Write Correctly by Joseph Devlin
Justice McAllister did not explicitly find the State Senate or Assembly maps to be unconstitutional gerrymanders.
From New York Times ● Mar. 31, 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
A federal court eventually struck some boundaries down as racial gerrymanders and the Supreme Court affirmed that decision.
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 22, 2018
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
The Reichstag, or national parliament, was grossly gerrymandered in favor of the upper classes, and the government was not responsible to its lawmakers, but rather to a capricious monarch.
From Salon ● Jun. 22, 2025
In two separate cases, Earls and Riggs succeeded in getting courts to strike down gerrymandered election districts in their state.
From Slate ● Oct. 25, 2024
Even McKinley, who earlier had been gerrymandered into victory, lost his seat.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 1, 2024
For decades, most legal challenges to gerrymandered maps played out in the federal courts, and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was often used to challenge unfairly drawn districts.
From New York Times ● Apr. 2, 2022
Is there any evidence that your state is "gerrymandered"?
From Government in the United States National, State and Local by James Wilford Garner
But his prior comments, as well his efforts to end gerrymandering across the nation since leaving office, have made clear that his views have not changed.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 17, 2026
It wouldn’t be the first time that legislators have played hardball to work around restrictions on gerrymandering.
From Slate ● May 11, 2026
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
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
For years North and South Carolina each sent at least one negro member to the House of Representatives and, but for flagrant gerrymandering, might have sent more.
From The New South A Chronicle of Social and Industrial Evolution by Holland Thompson
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.
