Tammany Hall

American  

noun

1. 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.

2. the building in which the Tammany organization had its headquarters.

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Tammany Hall British  

/ ˈtæmənɪ /

noun

1. Also called: Tammany.  politics the central organization of the Democratic Party in New York county. Originally founded as a benevolent society ( Tammany Society ) in 1789, Tammany Hall was notorious for the corruption in city and state politics that it fostered in the 19th and early 20th centuries

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Other Word Forms

• Tammanyism noun
• Tammanyite noun

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

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

And a relative, Herbert Bruce, was the first Black Tammany Hall District leader in New York City after he won an election to lead a local Democratic club in the 1930s.

From New York Times • Oct. 22, 2021

The error prompted new calls to reform the century-old board, a relic from the days of Tammany Hall, and optimism that this time might be different.

From Seattle Times • Jun. 30, 2021

He was named for a prominent lawyer and Tammany Hall leader.

From Washington Post • Mar. 30, 2021

And so, if I overheard mention of something I was ignorant about—keeping Kosher, Tammany Hall, haute couture— I researched it later on.

From "The Glass Castle" by Jeannette Walls