bureaucratic

adjective

bu·​reau·​crat·​ic ˌbyu̇r-ə-ˈkra-tik 

ˌbyər-

: of, relating to, or having the characteristics of a bureaucracy or a bureaucrat

bureaucratic government

a bureaucratic organization

bureaucratic procedures

bureaucratically

ˌbyu̇r-ə-ˈkra-ti-k(ə-)lē 

ˌbyər-

adverb

Examples of bureaucratic in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The Department of Education building is ugly in a distinctly Washington way—a concrete shoebox more suggestive of bureaucratic toil than of any grand vision of government. —Emma Green, New Yorker, 13 Oct. 2025

The organization was in a bureaucratic bind, and had to find a way to hold what should have been the second major of 2020 or risk financial peril. —Matthew Futterman, New York Times, 11 Oct. 2025

Rolling out sweeping new curbs will likely unleash a bureaucratic burden for officials that could reignite tensions, if more hold-ups ensue and threaten to halt production lines. —Dave Smith, Fortune, 10 Oct. 2025

Winding its way through tax tribunals and the county treasurer's office all the way to the Michigan Court of Appeals through a trail of unseen revocation notices, jurisdictional conflicts and behind-the-scenes bureaucratic handwringing, that eventually got worked out. —Todd Spangler, Freep.com, 3 Oct. 2025

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from French bureaucratique, from bureaucrate bureaucrat or bureaucratie bureaucracy + -ique -ic entry 1

First Known Use

1800, in the meaning defined above

Phrases Containing bureaucratic

• anti-bureaucratic

Rhymes for bureaucratic

• adiabatic
• aristocratic
• asymptomatic
• axiomatic
• diagrammatic
• diaphragmatic
• electrostatic
• endolymphatic
• epigrammatic
• homeostatic
• idiomatic
• magnetostatic

Kids Definition

bureaucratic

adjective

bu·​reau·​crat·​ic ˌbyu̇r-ə-ˈkrat-ik 

: of, relating to, or having the characteristics of a bureaucracy or bureaucrat

bureaucratically

-ˈkrat-i-k(ə-)lē 

adverb