jerrymander

Verb

gerrymander (third-person singular simple present gerrymanders, present participle gerrymandering, simple past and past participle gerrymandered)

1. (derogatory, transitive) To divide a geographic area into voting districts in such a way as to give an unfair advantage to one party in an election.
   • Prop 50 would implement a newly gerrymandered map that would hold until the next decennial census, in 2030, when an independent commission would again draw the lines. […] [Will] O’Neill isn’t necessarily wrong. Democrats readily concede that they are betraying principles of good governance in...2025 October 27, Russell Berman, “‘California Is Allowed to Hit Back’”, in The Atlantic, archived from the original on 04 Nov 2025
2. (broadly, derogatory, transitive) To draw dividing lines for other types of districts in an unintuitive way to favor a particular group or for other perceived gain.
   • The superintendent helped gerrymander the school district lines in order to keep the children of the wealthy gated community in the better school all the way across town.
3. (broadly, derogatory, transitive) To change the franchise or voting system in such a way as to give an unfair advantage to one party in an election.
   • [The Reform Bill's] main purpose will be so to gerrymander the electorate as to give the greatest possible assistance to the Radical party at the next election.1912, The Saturday Review of Politics, Literature, Science and Art
4. (Ireland, UK, broadly, derogatory, transitive) To deliberately bring in voters of one's own party or displace voters of another party from a voting district in such a way as to give an unfair advantage to one party in an election.
   • Westminster City Council has been accused by the District Auditor of using public money to gerrymander marginal wards for the 1990 Borough elections. The strategy of attempting to 'gentrify' eight key wards, selling off council homes and hostels for the homeless to move out potential Labour voters...2000, Hugo de Burgh, Investigative Journalism: Context and Practice, Psychology Press, →ISBN, page 207

See all 6 meanings of gerrymander