gerrymandering
/ˈdʒɛ.ɹiˌmæn.də.ɹɪŋ/
gerrymandering · noun — the practice of redrawing electoral districts to gain an electoral advantage for a political party.
Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
gerrymandering is pronounced /ˈdʒɛ.ɹiˌmæn.də.ɹɪŋ/.
Why “gerrymandering” is a great word
The deliberate manipulation of electoral district boundaries to secure a political advantage for a particular faction. From the portmanteau 'gerrymander' (blending the surname of Massachusetts Governor Elbridge Gerry and 'salamander', from the shape of a redrawn district in 1812) + the suffix '-ing' (denoting the action or practice). The term was coined in 1812 following a political cartoon by Elkanah Tisdale. Unlike 'redistricting,' a routine, nominally neutral adjustment of lines, or 'apportionment,' the simple allocation of seats, gerrymandering is the surgical, partisan corruption of that geometry. It is the district drawn like a Rorschach blot to dilute a rival's votes, the community split by a cartographer's pen to ensure a predetermined result, the boundary that snakes along a riverbank to exclude a neighborhood—the quiet subversion of geography in the service of power, proof that geometry, too, can lie.
❧ Written by Lexicurio’s AI
Etymology
From gerrymander + -ing.
noun
- The practice of redrawing electoral districts to gain an electoral advantage for a political party.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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