variants
also apparatchiki
as in minions
disapproving
a very loyal member of an organization (such as a company or political party) who always obeys orders
party apparatchiks
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Recent Examples of apparatchiks
Xi’s brand of resentful nationalism, meanwhile, comes with a strong anti-American streak, and security apparatchiks see CIA spies everywhere.
—
Andy Browne, semafor.com, 28 Apr. 2026
The group ventriloquized the voices of authority—parents, school principals, cops, military officers, judges, politicians, newscasters, Soviet apparatchiks—and turned them into expressions of mass insanity.
—Andrew Katzenstein, The New York Review of Books, 19 Mar. 2026
This agitprop is vomited out 24/7 by Democrat media apparatchiks who were also unerringly described by Orwell in his novel 1984.
—Howie Carr, Boston Herald, 11 Oct. 2025
Andy Browne, semafor.com, 28 Apr. 2026
The group ventriloquized the voices of authority—parents, school principals, cops, military officers, judges, politicians, newscasters, Soviet apparatchiks—and turned them into expressions of mass insanity.
—Andrew Katzenstein, The New York Review of Books, 19 Mar. 2026
This agitprop is vomited out 24/7 by Democrat media apparatchiks who were also unerringly described by Orwell in his novel 1984.
—Howie Carr, Boston Herald, 11 Oct. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for apparatchiks
Noun
-
Your president and his minions spread war, chaos, lies and economic instability.—
Voice of the People,
New York Daily News,
27 Apr. 2026
-
There’s a steadiness to Tung/Wonder Woman that stands out for its quiet authority in a frequently goofy landscape peppered with poisonous robes and finger-eating minions.—
Sarah Shachat,
IndieWire,
24 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
The parade featured a flyover by fighter planes above the Kremlin, and soldiers marched on the Red Square, in front of Lenin’s mausoleum.—
Zahra Ullah,
CNN Money,
9 May 2026
-
The Israeli military said Hezbollah fired attack drones into Israel near the border with Lebanon, and three soldiers were wounded, one seriously, in one of the attacks.—
Bassem Mroue,
Los Angeles Times,
9 May 2026
Noun
-
Scientology is a religious group shrouded in privacy that has garnered attention for its celebrity adherents, including Tom Cruise and John Travolta.—
Joe Kottke,
NBC news,
3 May 2026
-
He’d been struck that the Milwaukee branch of the adherents to his cause were forever boasting about their superior sanitation systems.—
The Editorial Board,
Chicago Tribune,
19 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Apparatchiks.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/apparatchiks. Accessed 12 May. 2026.
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