Thesaurus results for BUREAUCRATS

bureaucrats

noun

plural of bureaucrat

as in officials

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

Relevance

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 bureaucrats The bureaucrats who failed to prevent the fraud often remain anonymous. — Sreedhar Potarazu, Baltimore Sun, 19 Aug. 2026 America’s goal should be more cures, more treatment options and better care, not fewer innovations dictated by Washington bureaucrats. — Steve Forbes, Forbes.com, 17 Aug. 2026 The order directs his administration to toughen air pollution evaluations, add noise restrictions and expand city bureaucrats’ authority to review water and electricity usage at data center facilities. — Jake Sheridan, Chicago Tribune, 17 Aug. 2026 This entails handing out thousands of patronage jobs to rabbis, bureaucrats, undertakers, and inspectors. — Bernard Avishai, New Yorker, 11 Aug. 2026 The bureaucrats in Brussels are struggling to keep up with the breakneck pace of technological progress. — Editorial Board, Washington Post, 4 Aug. 2026 Porter sketched Trotsky holding forth at a conference table, proselytizing to the American bureaucrats. — Dan Chiasson, The New York Review of Books, 1 Aug. 2026 Businesses and bureaucrats got an early indicator this week of whether the World Cup was worth the cost for Los Angeles — beer sales. — Los Angeles Times, 24 July 2026 Several Japanese bureaucrats also died by suicide in recent years in cases linked to overwork. — Miranda Jeyaretnam, Time, 23 July 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for bureaucrats

Noun

That meeting occurred after Russian missiles and drones struck at least four Ukrainian regions overnight, strikes that officials said killed five people.

— Arkansas Online, Arkansas Online, 23 Sep. 2026
In 1953 Arizona state officials organized another raid on Short Creek in which more than 100 were arrested and over 200 children were taken into state custody (they were reunited with their families two years later).

— Encyclopedia Britannica, Encyclopedia Britannica, 22 Sep. 2026

Definition of officials

Noun

September 24, 2026 AI is rapidly changing how top leaders communicate with employees, customers, boards, and each other.

— Harvard Business Review, Harvard Business Review, 24 Sep. 2026
Folklore intentionally awards $10,000 grants rather than spreading the money across a larger number of smaller awards, with the goal of providing enough funding for investments such as equipment, additional space or employees.

— Kansas City Star, Kansas City Star, 23 Sep. 2026

Definition of employees

Noun

Meanwhile, Brown, a former security official with the Michigan Department of State, said her group has hired former CISA employees to help provide training and other support to election clerks and fill the gap.

— Arkansas Online, Arkansas Online, 25 Sep. 2026
While Thursday was the first day clerks could send vote-by-mail ballots, Johnson said they weren’t required to mail them on that day.

— Susan Sarkauskas, Chicago Tribune, 24 Sep. 2026

Definition of clerks

Noun

Both Washington and Mexico City have launched crackdowns against a complex web of unscrupulous functionaries, front companies and document fraudsters, among others.

— Foreign Correspondent, Los Angeles Times, 3 Aug. 2026
To the extent that their fellow-citizens refer to them at all, our government functionaries are perceived not as active agents of change but as inert, self-protecting obstructions.

— The New Yorker, New Yorker, 4 July 2026

Definition of functionaries

Noun

Containment efforts have also been hamstrung by insecurity, displacement, a health workers' strike and intense population movements.

— Arkansas Online, Arkansas Online, 29 Sep. 2026
How the Saver’s Match will work The new Saver’s Match is part of an ongoing broader effort to help workers save for retirement.

— Sarah Agostino, CNBC, 29 Sep. 2026

Definition of workers

Browse Nearby Words

bureaucratic

bureaucrats

bureaus

See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

Style

“Bureaucrats.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/bureaucrats. Accessed 29 Sep. 2026.

Copy Citation

Synonyms of bureaucrats

noun

Example Sentences

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

argot

Popular in Grammar & Usage

Do You Need a New Language Peeve?

More Commonly Mispronounced Words

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide

Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word?

Popular in Wordplay

7 Great Ways to Say 'Great'

The Longest Long Words List

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World

Why do we 'bury the lede?'

Popular

Do You Need a New Language Peeve?

7 Great Ways to Say 'Great'

The Longest Long Words List

Games & Quizzes