Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • transitive verb To divide (a geographic area) into voting districts in a way that gives one party an unfair advantage in elections.
  • noun The act, process, or an instance of gerrymandering.
  • noun A district or configuration of districts whose boundaries are very irregular due to gerrymandering.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun In United States politics, an arbitrary arrangement of the political divisions of a State, in disregard of the natural or proper boundaries as indicated by geography or position, made so as to give one party an unfair advantage in elections.
  • To district, as a State, by the unfair arrangement called a gerrymander; arrange arbitrarily and unfairly, as the boundaries of political divisions, for the sake of partisan advantage in elections.
  • To shift and manipulate, as facts, so as to force an agreement with a preconceived notion.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb Political Cant, U. S. To divide (a State) into districts for the choice of representatives, in an unnatural and unfair way, with a view to give a political party an advantage over its opponent.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb transitive, pejorative To divide a geographic area into voting districts in such a way as to give an unfair advantage to one party in an election.
  • verb transitive, pejorative, by extension To draw dividing lines for other types of districts in an unintuitive way to favor a particular group or for other perceived gain.
  • noun pejorative The act of gerrymandering.
  • noun pejorative A voting district skewed by gerrymandering.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb divide unfairly and to one's advantage; of voting districts
  • noun an act of gerrymandering (dividing a voting area so as to give your own party an unfair advantage)

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[After Elbridge Gerry + (sala)mander (from the shape of an election district created while Gerry was governor of Massachusetts).]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From (Elbridge) Gerry + (sala)mander, from the similarity in shape to a salamander of an electoral district created when Gerry was the governor of Massachusetts

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Examples

  • The term gerrymander comes from a political cartoon.

    Comic Book Legends Revealed History | Comics Should Be Good! @ Comic Book Resources 2005

  • Of course, the term "gerrymander" itself is a nickname for a

    The Washington Post: National, World & D.C. Area News and Headlines - The Washington Post Aaron Blake 2011

  • Of course, the term "gerrymander" itself is a nickname for a

    The Washington Post: National, World & D.C. Area News and Headlines - The Washington Post Aaron Blake 2011

  • When someone leaves, the apartment goes market. if you think that anything is done in NJ, especially hudson county, that does NOT involve keeping the welfare machine firmly controlled by the party currently in charge does the term gerrymander mean anything to you? if you think that anything is done in NJ, especially hudson county, that does NOT involve keeping the welfare machine firmly controlled by the party currently in charge, then you are much more stupid than i give you credit. seriously, how f'n stupid are you? how long have you been living in NJ? do you not look around and watch how the taxes are distributed in this state? hoboken is a tiny version of this entire state. you are one big f'n idiot. and you can look up "gerrymander" on google you twit.

    Hoboken 411 2009

  • When someone leaves, the apartment goes market. if you think that anything is done in NJ, especially hudson county, that does NOT involve keeping the welfare machine firmly controlled by the party currently in charge does the term gerrymander mean anything to you? if you think that anything is done in NJ, especially hudson county, that does NOT involve keeping the welfare machine firmly controlled by the party currently in charge, then you are much more stupid than i give you credit. seriously, how f'n stupid are you? how long have you been living in NJ? do you not look around and watch how the taxes are distributed in this state? hoboken is a tiny version of this entire state. you are one big f'n idiot. and you can look up "gerrymander" on google you twit.

    Hoboken 411 2009

  • When someone leaves, the apartment goes market. if you think that anything is done in NJ, especially hudson county, that does NOT involve keeping the welfare machine firmly controlled by the party currently in charge does the term gerrymander mean anything to you? if you think that anything is done in NJ, especially hudson county, that does NOT involve keeping the welfare machine firmly controlled by the party currently in charge, then you are much more stupid than i give you credit. seriously, how f'n stupid are you? how long have you been living in NJ? do you not look around and watch how the taxes are distributed in this state? hoboken is a tiny version of this entire state. you are one big f'n idiot. and you can look up "gerrymander" on google you twit.

    Hoboken 411 2009

  • When someone leaves, the apartment goes market. if you think that anything is done in NJ, especially hudson county, that does NOT involve keeping the welfare machine firmly controlled by the party currently in charge does the term gerrymander mean anything to you? if you think that anything is done in NJ, especially hudson county, that does NOT involve keeping the welfare machine firmly controlled by the party currently in charge, then you are much more stupid than i give you credit. seriously, how f'n stupid are you? how long have you been living in NJ? do you not look around and watch how the taxes are distributed in this state? hoboken is a tiny version of this entire state. you are one big f'n idiot. and you can look up "gerrymander" on google you twit.

    Hoboken 411 2009

  • When someone leaves, the apartment goes market. if you think that anything is done in NJ, especially hudson county, that does NOT involve keeping the welfare machine firmly controlled by the party currently in charge does the term gerrymander mean anything to you? if you think that anything is done in NJ, especially hudson county, that does NOT involve keeping the welfare machine firmly controlled by the party currently in charge, then you are much more stupid than i give you credit. seriously, how f'n stupid are you? how long have you been living in NJ? do you not look around and watch how the taxes are distributed in this state? hoboken is a tiny version of this entire state. you are one big f'n idiot. and you can look up "gerrymander" on google you twit.

    Hoboken 411 2009

  • When someone leaves, the apartment goes market. if you think that anything is done in NJ, especially hudson county, that does NOT involve keeping the welfare machine firmly controlled by the party currently in charge does the term gerrymander mean anything to you? if you think that anything is done in NJ, especially hudson county, that does NOT involve keeping the welfare machine firmly controlled by the party currently in charge, then you are much more stupid than i give you credit. seriously, how f'n stupid are you? how long have you been living in NJ? do you not look around and watch how the taxes are distributed in this state? hoboken is a tiny version of this entire state. you are one big f'n idiot. and you can look up "gerrymander" on google you twit.

    Hoboken 411 2009

  • At the same time, state leaders are facing countervailing pressures from reform-minded groups that want to lessen the impact of partisan politics on a process that has been plagued for decades by shenanigans - and symbolized by the oddly shaped district maps that take their nickname "gerrymander" from an early 19th-century Massachusetts governor, Elbridge Gerry, who drew the first one in the shape of a salamander.

    NYT > Home Page By ERIC LICHTBLAU 2011

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