reapportionment

noun

re·​ap·​por·​tion·​ment ˌrē-ə-ˈpȯr-shən-mənt 

plural reapportionments

: an act or result of reapportioning something : the process or result of making a new proportionate division or distribution of something

especially, US law : the reassignment of representatives proportionally among the states in accordance with changes in population distribution

As one might expect, the legislative majority did not care to realign districts to represent the current distribution of the population, because reapportionment would endanger some of their seats.

—Robert H. Bork

During the Warren Court period the federal courts revolutionized criminal procedure law, created modern antidiscrimination law, recaptured the First Amendment from the shambles of McCarthyism, and restructured American politics through reapportionment.

—Elizabeth Mensch

Bipartisan gerrymandering following the 2000 reapportionment produced hundreds of safe Democratic seats, hundreds of safe Republican seats, and not much else.

—Peter Beinart

Examples of reapportionment in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

In West Virginia, two House Republican incumbents are competing because the state lost a seat in reapportionment. —John McCormick, WSJ, 30 Apr. 2022

In some cases that could theoretically increase the number of congresspeople those states can send to the House of Representatives in Washington, although such reapportionment only occurs once a decade. —David Hamilton, Quartz, 19 Mar. 2024

Twenty of the uncalled House races are held by Democrats, 10 are held by Republicans, and three are brand new seats due to reapportionment. —Ben Kamisar, NBC News, 10 Nov. 2022

That should be good news for Republicans the next time there is a reapportionment. —Dan McLaughlin, National Review, 22 Dec. 2023

However, this could change following the 2030 census and congressional reapportionment. —Mike Pappano, ABC News, 7 Nov. 2023

If the 2024 election plays out this way—adjusting for reapportionment but otherwise assuming other states stay the same—Mr. Trump would flip the White House, winning 302 electoral votes to Mr. Biden’s 236. —Karl Rove, WSJ, 8 Nov. 2023

The two lawmakers ran for the same seat after the Mountain State lost a House seat in reapportionment. —Bridget Bowman, NBC News, 19 Oct. 2023

The latest California population estimates show heavy shifts in House seats in the Democratic state, which is on pace to lose as many as five congressional districts in the 2030 reapportionment cycle if current trends persist. —Eden Villalovas, Washington Examiner, 19 Sep. 2023

Word History

First Known Use

1788, in the meaning defined above