bureaucrat

noun

bu·reau·crat ˈbyu̇r-ə-ˌkrat

ˈbyər-

Synonyms of bureaucrat next

: a member of a bureaucracy

government bureaucrats

Did you know?

In French, a bureau is a desk, so bureaucracy means basically "government by people at desks". Despite the bad-mouthing they often get, partly because they usually have to stick so close to the rules, bureaucrats do almost all the day-to-day work that keeps a government running. The idea of a bureaucracy is to split up the complicated task of governing a large country into smaller jobs that can be handled by specialists. Bureaucratic government is nothing new; the Roman empire had an enormous and complex bureaucracy, with the bureaucrats at lower levels reporting to bureaucrats above them, and so on up to the emperor himself.

Example Sentences

the bureaucrats at the town hall seem to think that we need a building permit to build a tree house

Recent Examples on the Web In January, the movie was nominated for two Oscars, one for Ishiguro’s screenplay and another for Bill Nighy in the lead role of Mr. Williams, the repressed council bureaucrat whose diagnosis propels the movie’s plot. —

Sophie Gilbert, The Atlantic, 2 Mar. 2023 At the same time, Wang Xiaohui, executive vice minister of the Propaganda Department and a career bureaucrat with no film industry background, took over as director of the National Film Bureau. —

Patrick Brzeski, The Hollywood Reporter, 17 Feb. 2023 And the 44-year-old Washington bureaucrat was indispensable in the boyish billionaire’s ambitious plans to reshape U.S. crypto regulation. —

Peter Whoriskey, Washington Post, 13 Dec. 2022 As a government bureaucrat, he had been drafted and served a couple of years with the occupation forces in France before being sent to the Russian front. —

Lane Sainty And Melina Walling, USA TODAY, 15 Feb. 2023 As a government bureaucrat, he had been drafted and served a couple of years with the occupation forces in France before being sent to the Russian front. —

Melina Walling, The Arizona Republic, 14 Feb. 2023 Panchmahals' top bureaucrat told Reuters that the district jail advisory committee had recommended the release after considering the time the 11 had spent in jail and their good behavior. —

Reuters, CNN, 17 Aug. 2022 Only a government bureaucrat would be happy with this situation. —

Razib Khan, Discover Magazine, 9 Feb. 2011 Djukic, a former Montenegrin bureaucrat, helped found in 2017 a populist political party opposed to the country’s bid for NATO membership. —

Debbie Cenziper, ProPublica, 14 Nov. 2022 See More

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'bureaucrat.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.