Reference.com

12 results for: gerrymander

Dictionary Entries (9 more entries. View all »)
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)Cite This Source
ger·ry·man·der    Audio Help   [jer-i-man-der, ger-] Pronunciation Key
–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.
–verb (used with object)
2.U.S. Politics. to subject (a state, county, etc.) to a gerrymander.
[Origin: 1812, Americanism; 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]

—Related forms
ger·ry·man·der·er, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

Encyclopedia Articles (1 more entry. View all »)
Columbia Electronic EncyclopediaCite This Source


gerrymander, in politics, rearrangement of voting districts so as to favor the party in power. The objective is to create as many districts as possible in areas of known support and to concentrate the opposition's strength into as few districts as possible. Extremely irregular boundary lines are sometimes necessary to obtain the results desired. The U.S. Supreme Court, however, has placed (1964) the vague limit of "compact districts of contiguous territory" on such apportionment schemes. The origin of the term, though by no means the origin of the practice, was in such an arrangement made by the Massachusetts Jeffersonians when Elbridge Gerry was governor.

See E. C. Griffith, The Rise and Development of the Gerrymander (1907, repr. 1974).

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia Copyright © 2004, Columbia University Press.
Licensed from Columbia University Press




View results from: Dictionary | Thesaurus | Encyclopedia | All Reference | the Web


Thesaurus: No results found. Would you like to search the Web for gerrymander?








Perform a new search, or try your search for "gerrymander" at: