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bureaucrat

noun

ˈbyu̇r-ə-ˌkrat How to pronounce bureaucrat (audio)
Definition of bureaucratnext
as in clerk
a worker in a government agency the bureaucrats at the town hall seem to think that we need a building permit to build a tree house

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of bureaucrat Mark Ruffalo plays the bureaucrat who stands in the protesters’ way. — Patrick Hipes, Deadline, 2 Sep. 2026 Consider Maxim Parshin, a competent bureaucrat who served as deputy minister of digital communications, who was arrested in July 2023. — Andrei Soldatov, Foreign Affairs, 31 Aug. 2026 The nearly two-minute spot depicts a club-wielding bureaucrat chasing and tripping a child on a bike and another stealing a boy’s scooter. — Ben Paviour, Sacbee.com, 27 Aug. 2026 Darline Graham, 62, is a longtime state bureaucrat in South Carolina government who since 2019 has worked as commissioner of the South Carolina Commission for the Blind. — Joey Garrison, USA Today, 25 Aug. 2026 See All Example Sentences for bureaucrat
Recent Examples of Synonyms for bureaucrat
  1. clerk
  2. official
  3. functionary
  4. worker
  5. employee
Noun
  • Florey also argued that the County Board cannot interfere with how the clerk secures services or dictate if a particular service, such as printing of ballots, must be bid out.
    — Alicia Fabbre, Chicago Tribune, 18 Sep. 2026
  • The local election authority, the Saline County clerk, still lists Gibson as receiving the highest number of votes in its official results.
    — Jack Harvel, Kansas City Star, 18 Sep. 2026
Definition of clerk
Noun
  • Election officials have said there was simply no way to carry out a complete overhaul in the weeks before the midterms.
    — Arkansas Online, Arkansas Online, 15 Sep. 2026
  • Airport officials said the additional revenue would help pay for new parking amenities, as well as rising debt and operating costs.
    — Madison Smalstig, Sacbee.com, 14 Sep. 2026
Definition of official
Noun
  • This was no gangsta rap Nuremberg, but rather something closer to the trial of Adolf Eichmann — a case tried decades later in which the aging defendant wasn’t the actual killer but a banal middleman, a functionary and a lethal node of transport.
    — Jeff Weiss, HollywoodReporter, 1 Sep. 2026
  • Played completely deadpan by Konopka, the character beneath this daft assemblage of aesthetic choices makes no real sense as a functionary in this dry, dark future, much less as its hero.
    — Guy Lodge, Variety, 20 Aug. 2026
Definition of functionary
Noun
  • About 50,000 doses are intended for front-line and health workers, while 20,000 doses will be used in a clinical trial to study whether the vaccine protects against Bundibugyo virus.
    — Arkansas Online, Arkansas Online, 20 Sep. 2026
  • Many became lifelong friends, and role models for me as husbands, fathers, workers and community servants.
    — Tom Strong, Chicago Tribune, 20 Sep. 2026
Definition of worker
Noun
  • The reviewer may technically be the person receiving the response, but potential customers, employees, journalists and business partners are the ones who will read it months or even years later.
    — Evan Nierman, Forbes.com, 15 Sep. 2026
  • County employees found the dead birds Sunday morning and worked into the afternoon clearing them.
    — Noah Haggerty, Los Angeles Times, 15 Sep. 2026
Definition of employee

Browse Nearby Words

bureau
bureaucrat
bureaucratese
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Bureaucrat.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/bureaucrat. Accessed 21 Sep. 2026.

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