bureaucrat

noun

bu·​reau·​crat ˈbyu̇r-ə-ˌkrat 

ˈbyər-

: 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.

Synonyms

• civil servant
• functionary
• mandarin
• public servant

Examples of bureaucrat in a Sentence

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

Nor was this wholly backroom work, done furtively by nameless bureaucrats in windowless ministries. —Daniel Immerwahr, The New Yorker, 13 Nov. 2023

But the country and its future prosperity require them to mount a vigorous opposition to this massive transfer of power from private innovators to public bureaucrats. —James Freeman, WSJ, 30 Oct. 2023

Arnold Diaz, a brash investigative reporter at three New York City television stations who brought righteous passion to segments that shamed con artists, business owners, scammers, government bureaucrats and others who ripped off consumers, died on Oct. 24 in Greenwich, Conn. —Richard Sandomir, New York Times, 1 Nov. 2023

The list included phone numbers belonging to opposition leader Rahul Gandhi, journalists, senior bureaucrats and Supreme Court judges, The Washington Post found in a joint investigation with the Forbidden Stories journalism nonprofit. —Gerry Shih, Washington Post, 31 Oct. 2023

Getting old is hard enough without having to box bureaucrats. —Steve Lopez, Los Angeles Times, 7 Oct. 2023

Fox News Digital reported last year on a German bureaucrat, Michael Blume, assigned to combat antisemitism who was classified as antisemitic by the experts from the Wiesenthal Center for stoking hatred against Jews and Israel. —Benjamin Weinthal, Fox News, 23 Oct. 2023

At least the federal bureaucrats’ boss has to face the voters every four years. —Elizabeth Kolbert, The New Yorker, 20 Oct. 2023

Throughout the 20th century, politicians, bureaucrats, and the media continuously described America’s taking of Native land as being good for Indigenous people. —TIME, 5 Oct. 2023

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Word History

Etymology

borrowed from French bureaucrate, after bureaucratie — more at bureaucracy, -crat

First Known Use

1832, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

bureaucrat

noun

bu·​reau·​crat ˈbyu̇r-ə-ˌkrat 

: a member of a bureaucracy