APPARATCHIKS Synonyms: 60 Similar and Opposite Words

apparatchiks

noun

variants also apparatchiki

plural of apparatchik

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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Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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

Recent Examples of Synonyms for apparatchiks

Noun

This iconic live-action movie features NBA superstar Michael Jordan, who is recruited by Bugs Bunny and the Looney Tunes, the Tune Squad, for a high-stakes game against an evil theme park owner and his minions, the Monstars, in outer space.

— Sarah Shachat, IndieWire, 14 July 2026
The rest of the Aquamarine team — including Cecilia’s minions, played by Tammin Sursok, Dichen Lachman and Natasha Cunningham — awaited in Australia.

— Bailey Richards, PEOPLE, 14 July 2026

Definition of minions

Noun

The 1990s were a period of instability across the country, including in Goma, which saw periods of widespread looting that started with mutinous security forces and during which soldiers terrorized the population.

— Chinatsu Tsuji, Encyclopedia Britannica, 14 July 2026
In his latest casualty update in February, Zelenskyy said Ukraine had lost at least 55,000 soldiers killed since 2022.

— David Brennan, ABC News, 14 July 2026

Definition of soldiers

Noun

Baric worked closely with researchers at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, which many adherents to the lab-leak theory posit as the source of the pandemic; one contingent thinks that Baric might have been the creator of the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

— Daniel Engber, The Atlantic, 7 July 2026
Many liberals had been disciplined to adopt methods that purported to strictly confine legal interpretation, only to discover that their most prominent adherents, whether covertly or unconsciously, had other plans.

— Jeannie Suk Gersen, New Yorker, 2 July 2026

Definition of adherents

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apparatchik

apparatchiks

apparatus

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“Apparatchiks.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/apparatchiks. Accessed 21 Jul. 2026.

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Synonyms of apparatchiks

noun

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