technocrat

noun tech·no·crat \ ˈtek-nə-ˌkrat \

|Updated on: 31 Jul 2018

Editor's Note: Did You Know?

Definition of technocrat

1 : an adherent of technocracy

2 : a technical expert; especially : one exercising managerial authority

See technocrat defined for English-language learners

Recent Examples of technocrat from the Web

It’s hard to watch him and not think of any number of Silicon Valley’s mononymous technocrats: Travis, Brian, Elon.

— hannah giorgis, The Atlantic, "Sorry to Bother You Has an Eerily Familiar Villain," 10 July 2018
In recent decades, Mexico has been led by technocrats and pro-American politicians, while López Obrador's role models are Mexican independence and revolutionary leaders who stood up to more powerful foreign countries.

— joshua partlow, Anchorage Daily News, "Andrés Manuel López Obrador wins Mexican presidential race," 2 July 2018
And even when legal arguments from colleagues cannot persuade justices, sometimes public pressure can, though the justices would never admit it.) Breyer has always had the voice of a technocrat.

— david fontana, Vox, "Justice Sotomayor is poised to lead the minority wing of the Supreme Court," 6 July 2018
Yesterday, that candidate happened to be Iván Duque Márquez, a one-term senator and longtime international development technocrat.

— steven cohen, The New Republic, "Why Colombia Keeps Electing Presidents Tied to Murderers," 18 June 2018
At the very least, Liu’s technocrats have shown a skill in taking advantage of the trade crisis.

— Bloomberg.com, "China Quietly Rolled Out a Very Big Bang," 19 Apr. 2018
As a result, conservatives who take this view are less enthusiastic about allowing technocrats to punish voucher schools that underperform.

— bobby jindal, WSJ, "The Moral Logic of School Choice," 25 June 2018
Mattarella then tapped a former IMF official to head a possible interim government of technocrats to see Italy through to an early election.

— Washington Post, "Euroskeptics cheer, markets up as Italy populists take power," 1 June 2018
After rejecting Conte's first attempt, Mattarella tapped a former International Monetary Fund official to head a possible interim government of technocrats to see Italy through to an early election.

— colleen barry, The Christian Science Monitor, "Italy forms western Europe's first populist government," 1 June 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'technocrat.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Did You Know?

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.