Tammany Hall
Americannoun
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a Democratic political organization in New York City, founded in 1789 as a fraternal benevolent society Tammany Society and associated especially in the late 1800s and early 1900s with corruption and abuse of power.
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the building in which the Tammany organization had its headquarters.
noun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of Tammany Hall
Named after Tammany (variant of Tamanen, Tammenund ), 17th-century Delaware Indian chief, later facetiously canonized as patron saint of U.S.
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.
After all, he was fighting the combined power of the Tammany Hall political machine and newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst, who united behind John Francis Hylan, a vaguely populist Brooklyn Democrat with few discernible positions.
From Salon • Oct. 26, 2025
It is the resting place of luminaries like Leonard Bernstein and Jean-Michel Basquiat, as well as unsavory characters like William Magear Tweed, better known as Boss Tweed of Tammany Hall.
From New York Times • Sep. 23, 2021
He was named for a prominent lawyer and Tammany Hall leader.
From Washington Post • Mar. 30, 2021
Burrows had served two terms in the state Assembly and was one of the first Black lawmakers to join the inner circle of Tammany Hall, the Manhattan Democratic machine.
From Seattle Times • Nov. 24, 2020
Immigrants once made Tammany Hall the most powerful single force in American politics.
From "The Autobiography of Malcolm X" by Alex Malcolm X;Hailey
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.
