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gerrymander

[jer-i-man-der, ger-] / ˈdʒɛr ɪˌmæn dər, ˈgɛr- /
VERB
to divide into election districts in a politically-motivated way
Synonyms


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.

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Justice Samuel Alito’s majority opinion gives a detailed history of Section 2 and a tour of the Court’s messy racial gerrymander jurisprudence.

From The Wall Street Journal Apr. 29, 2026

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

When I asked Lewis about this on a 2019 panel at the University of North Carolina campus in Chapel Hill, he worked himself into a moral dudgeon over being accused of a racial gerrymander.

From Salon Aug. 29, 2021

Further, as the legislature apportioned the various electoral districts, the dominant party could, by means of the gerrymander, entrench itself even in unfriendly localities.

From The Boss and the Machine; a chronicle of the politicians and party organization by Orth, Samuel Peter

Earls, the founder and former executive director of the Southern Coalition for Social Justice, had battled Republican gerrymanders in North Carolina for years before winning election to the court in 2018.

From Seattle Times Jan. 29, 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

It will not be the last time the consultant’s materials are used to tear down the gerrymanders he spent his life perfecting.

From Slate May 31, 2019

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 Baldwin, Simeon E., LLD

Imagine, then, that rather than drawing Texas into 38 gerrymandered districts, with each holding an election for one representative, Texas instead held one election—statewide—wherein all of its voters chose all of its 38 representatives.

From Slate Aug. 27, 2025

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

For the other implications of the Wisconsin race, especially for the state’s heavily gerrymandered legislative maps, I recommend Reid’s latest article.

From New York Times Apr. 6, 2023

The map they form can at times resemble gerrymandered congressional districts, with it not unusual for neighboring farms to get water from canals that lead to mountains and reservoirs in opposite directions.

From Los Angeles Times Aug. 3, 2021

Counsels less wise and just prevailed, and the united province was "gerrymandered" against Lord Durham's protest.

From George Brown by Lewis, John

But even as it looked as if Section 2 was on borrowed time, the court sent repeated signals that it would, in fact, respect precedent when it came to protections against racial gerrymandering.

From Slate May 13, 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

The 15th amendment, which prohibits denying or abridging the right to vote on the basis of race, makes racial gerrymandering legally suspect.

From Slate Apr. 29, 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

In order to prevent gerrymandering it was agreed that this Commission should not only be quite independent of both parties, but that it should have absolute powers.

From Memoirs of Sir Wemyss Reid 1842-1885 by Reid, Stuart J. (Stuart Johnson)



Vocabulary lists containing gerrymander


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