rotten borough


noun
  1. (before the Reform Bill of 1832) any English borough that had very few voters yet was represented in Parliament.

  2. an election district that has more representatives in a legislative body than the number of its constituents would normally call for.

Origin of rotten borough

1
First recorded in 1805–15

Words Nearby rotten borough

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use rotten borough in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for rotten borough

rotten borough

noun
  1. (before the Reform Act of 1832) any of certain English parliamentary constituencies with only a very few electors: Compare pocket borough

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