gerrymandering
3 synonyms for gerrymandering, grouped by meaning and by how common each one is.
Noun — The practice of drawing the boundaries of voting districts in a deliberately lopsided way so that one party or group wins more seats than its share of the vote would justify.
Synonyms
Rare, literary or technical
Precise, but they will stand out — check the sense before using one.
boundary rigging
vote rigging
electoral manipulation
How to use gerrymandering
The word patterns that sound natural to a native speaker.
partisan gerrymandering
racial gerrymandering
gerrymandering the map
accused of gerrymandering
Always disapproving. The neutral term for the process itself is redistricting, or boundary review in British usage.
Etymology
A blend of the surname of Elbridge Gerry, governor of Massachusetts, and salamander, after a contorted electoral district approved under him in 1812 that was said to resemble the animal.
Full origin of gerrymandering →Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between gerrymandering and redistricting?
Redistricting is the routine, lawful redrawing of electoral boundaries, usually after a census, to keep populations even. Gerrymandering is redistricting done to secure a partisan or racial advantage. Every gerrymander is a redistricting, but not every redistricting is a gerrymander.
What are packing and cracking?
They are the two standard gerrymandering techniques. Packing crams as many of the opposing side's voters as possible into a handful of districts so their votes are wasted on huge wins. Cracking splits a bloc of them thinly across many districts so they are outnumbered everywhere.
Does gerrymandering happen outside the United States?
The word and most of the controversy are American, because there elected politicians often draw the maps. Many other democracies, including the UK, Canada and Australia, hand boundary-setting to independent commissions, which makes deliberate gerrymandering much harder.
