Definition of bureaucratnext
as in clerk
a worker in a government agency the bureaucrats at the town hall seem to think that we need a building permit to build a tree house

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Example Sentences

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 bureaucrat The prosecutor was aware that some people viewed career officials who had remained at the Justice Department as comparable to the bureaucrats who had dutifully followed orders in Nazi Germany. — Eyal Press, New Yorker, 28 Sep. 2026 His father worked as a bureaucrat in Manhattan; his mother taught piano lessons from their living room. — Clara Molot, Vanity Fair, 24 Sep. 2026 The men are a Chaucerian cross section—a contractor, a bureaucrat, a writer, and a doctor—brought together on a cold night in a train station’s waiting room. — James Folta, Literary Hub, 23 Sep. 2026 Nearly 30 years after a million starving aliens were stranded near Johannesburg, a bureaucrat tasked with forcibly relocating them is exposed to an alien chemical and starts to experience changes. — Sara Netzley, Entertainment Weekly, 11 Sep. 2026 See All Example Sentences for bureaucrat
Recent Examples of Synonyms for bureaucrat
Noun
  • Lennon, the Boone County clerk, predicted that there will be uncertainty as to whether the election winners can even be seated in Congress; surely, there will be litigation to that end.
    — Jon Allsop, New Yorker, 10 Oct. 2026
  • As recently as fall 2023, the stepmother ran into Laura Hamilton, who was working as a clerk at a Dollar Tree in town, and Hamilton indicated that Kari Siira still lived in her home under her care, according to court records.
    — Idaho Statesman, Idaho Statesman, 9 Oct. 2026
Noun
  • An Allan Hancock College spokesperson confirmed the detention and said college officials were not notified in advance.
    — Mathew Miranda, Sacbee.com, 6 Oct. 2026
  • There have been 1,004 cases, including 198 hospitalizations and five deaths, state officials said.
    — Arkansas Online, Arkansas Online, 6 Oct. 2026
Noun
  • Among them was Joseph Felix Badio, 63, a former Haitian government functionary who has emerged as a central figure, and Samir Handal.
    — Jacqueline Charles, Miami Herald, 28 Sep. 2026
  • This was no gangsta rap Nuremberg, but rather something closer to the trial of Adolf Eichmann — a case tried decades later in which the aging defendant wasn’t the actual killer but a banal middleman, a functionary and a lethal node of transport.
    — Jeff Weiss, HollywoodReporter, 1 Sep. 2026
Noun
  • As part of orchestrating this project, Simon was also involved in securing visas for the various international performers, encountering in the process the uneven access to travel for cultural workers across classes, nationalities, and milieus.
    — Stephanie Wambugu, Vulture, 12 Oct. 2026
  • The headman is compromised, an NGO in the area is pursuing its own politics, and the man running the mine discloses that Nengsal was never on the books, leaving workers like him invisible on their own land.
    — Naman Ramachandran, Variety, 12 Oct. 2026
Noun
  • But Young noted that the child's lawyer, the judge, and government attorneys seeking deportation will all be federal employees.
    — Arkansas Online, Arkansas Online, 7 Oct. 2026
  • The service The service at Sala is seamless and friendly, and from arrival, the front desk staff feels more like a group of friends than a removed set of hotel employees.
    — Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 7 Oct. 2026

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Cite this Entry

“Bureaucrat.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/bureaucrat. Accessed 12 Oct. 2026.

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