technocrat
noun
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In 1919 W. H. Smyth coined the term technocracy to mean basically "management of society by technical experts". Technocracy grew into a movement during the Great Depression of the 1930s, when politicians and financial institutions were being blamed for the economic disaster, and fans of technocracy claimed that letting technical experts manage the country would be a great improvement. (They also suggested that dollars could be replaced by "energy certificates" representing energy units called ergs.) Today technocrat and technocratic are still popular words for experts with a highly rational and scientific approach to public policy issues. But these experts aren't always the best politicians, and when a terrific technological solution to a problem is opposed by a powerful group or industry, lawmakers find it easier to just ignore it.
Examples of technocrat in a Sentence
Graeme Wood, The Atlantic, 26 Oct. 2025
The agreement says 15 nonpartisan technocrats will take over on an interim basis, but there's no timetable.
—NPR, 22 Oct. 2025
The portrait that emerges from Kroll’s reporting is that of a man who is equal parts government technocrat, political operator and zealous iconoclast.
—Lisa Riordan Seville, ProPublica, 17 Oct. 2025
What happens with this international group that's going to come in and create a governance structure, an international governance structure led by technocrats, Palestinian technocrats, etc?
—ABC News, 5 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for technocrat
Cite this Entry
“Technocrat.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/technocrat. Accessed 6 Nov. 2025.
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