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 Faris, MSNBC Newsweek, 16 June 2025
Joe Carollo spent decades earning his reputation as a political brawler, clashing with Miami bureaucrats and raising the specter of leftist politics and communist ties to get his way.
—Douglas Hanks, Miami Herald, 30 May 2025
Musk wielded immense power as head of DOGE, purging the federal government of bureaucrats his team deemed part of a bloated system.
—Brady Knox, The Washington Examiner, 30 May 2025
His all-or-nothing strategy of wildcat provocations that often sacrifice his pawns increasingly conflicts with Andor’s desire for stability, and with the requirements of the Rebellion’s growing ranks, who are in need of hierarchy and management—bureaucrats, not assassins.
—Kyle Chayka, New Yorker, 21 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 1 Jul. 2025.
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bureaucrat
noun
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