bureaucrat
noun
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.
Examples of bureaucrat in a Sentence
David Ehrlich, IndieWire, 18 May 2025
Unwaveringly prepared, collegial, sharp and measured, Prevost impressed as an uber bureaucrat.
—Mitra Taj, New York Times, 17 May 2025
In many cases, the government usurps the market and replaces the judgment of private citizens with that of unelected bureaucrats.
—Norbert Michel, Forbes.com, 14 May 2025
As an experienced bureaucrat, Taft characteristically directed that the problem of government inefficiency be studied.
—Laura Ellyn Smith, The Conversation, 9 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for bureaucrat
Cite this Entry
“Bureaucrat.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bureaucrat. Accessed 28 May. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
bureaucrat
noun
Share