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
-
The evil force of Skeletor (Jared Leto), a bad bad man with no face, brings his minions in and sets off non-stop destruction.—
Pete Hammond,
Deadline,
2 June 2026
-
Aniello, who directed both bookend episodes, replicates her own long, dynamic shot from the series premiere, which tracks Deborah from the closing joke of her zillionth Vegas set, through a backstage warren of minions and admirers, to her dressing room.—
Judy Berman,
Time,
29 May 2026
Noun
-
Two Israeli soldiers were killed in separate incidents, according to their military.—
Dalia Abdelwahab,
CNN Money,
7 June 2026
-
Strikers viewed militiamen and soldiers as strikebreakers, and with the arrival of troops in Chicago, the violence escalated dramatically, as did civilian deaths.—
Kori Rumore,
Chicago Tribune,
6 June 2026
Noun
-
Its adherents promote terrorism and sabotage to incite a race war and to bring about social collapse.—
Odette Yousef,
NPR,
27 May 2026
-
And most of today’s Esperanto adherents are neither naïve nor even particularly batty.—
Katie Thornton,
Harpers Magazine,
26 May 2026
Cite this Entry
“Apparatchiks.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/apparatchiks. Accessed 8 Jun. 2026.
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