Thesaurus results for FUNCTIONARIES

functionaries

noun

plural of functionary

as in officials

a person who holds a public office spoke to high-ranking functionaries at the embassy in the hopes that they could help

Synonyms & Similar Words

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as in bureaucrats

a worker in a government agency the faceless functionaries at the Internal Revenue Service

Synonyms & Similar Words

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 functionaries Its magical forest is filled with talking animals, tree-worshipping mystics, scheming functionaries, and the Dowager Governess (Carey Mulligan), an enchantress who commands an army of uniformed coyotes. — Alison Willmore, Vulture, 23 Oct. 2026 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 More than funding, though, is needed transparency by IDNR functionaries with marina boaters and Winthrop Harbor officials. — Charles Selle, Chicago Tribune, 26 Jan. 2026 Their prestige suffers because it is conflated in the public’s mind with long lines at the DMV, fastidious building inspectors, parking tickets—the stuff of local functionaries. — Franklin Foer, The Atlantic, 11 Jan. 2026 Evil is aided and abetted by the banality of institutions and their functionaries. — Literary Hub, 17 Oct. 2025 Since then, there have been many more arrests—especially of regional functionaries at various levels. — Andrei Kolesnikov, Foreign Affairs, 8 Sep. 2025 But this newsletter is more focused on how Trump and his fawning functionaries speak about and for him. — Chris Brennan, USA Today, 29 Aug. 2025

Recent Examples of Synonyms for functionaries

Noun

Vazquez also helped Wedding evade capture, prosecutors allege, by paying public officials in Mexico to slow down investigations, get rid of evidence and dismiss charges.

— Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 11 Nov. 2026
Howard County officials are recommending major changes to how police and emergency responders handle mental health and disability-related crises following the deadly police shooting of a 25-year-old man with autism.

— CBS Baltimore, CBS News, 11 Nov. 2026

Definition of officials

Noun

Politicians can seize headlines, bureaucrats can push papers, and voters can dig into local hegemony.

— David Bloomfield, New York Daily News, 1 Nov. 2026
When courts signal to those same bureaucrats that fees won't be awarded, noncompliance costs them literally nothing.

— Arkansas Online, Arkansas Online, 30 Oct. 2026

Definition of bureaucrats

Noun

The service's Inspector Jeff Tyre said in a video message that the second body had been found in a search by Royal Canadian Mounted Police and conservation officers on Tuesday afternoon after the discovery of the first set of remains a day earlier.

— Arkansas Online, Arkansas Online, 6 Nov. 2026
Lawyers are officers of the court, bound by ethical obligations to pursue claims in good faith and not abuse the legal process for improper purposes.

— Voice of the People, New York Daily News, 6 Nov. 2026

Definition of officers

Noun

Instead, key employees billed taxpayers for air travel and hotel expenses while commuting from Denver and Texas to the Sacramento office.

— Julie Watts, CBS News, 5 Nov. 2026
Samsung has been monitoring where certain departing employees went — to signal to remaining staff that moving to competitors would be difficult — according to a former employee.

— Jenny Lee, CNBC, 5 Nov. 2026

Definition of employees

Noun

And while most early in-person voting sites wrapped up on Sunday, local clerks could extend early voting into Monday.

— Paula Wethington, CBS News, 2 Nov. 2026
The procedural dispute centers on a requirement to distribute amendment text to circuit court clerks for public posting, which lawmakers retroactively repealed.

— Gabrielle M. Etzel, The Washington Examiner, 30 Oct. 2026

Definition of clerks

Noun

Parks workers who don't comply with the new policy could face discipline, officials said, adding, the policy also instructs them to not engage in any verbal or physical altercations with ICE agents.

— Jesse Zanger, CBS News, 2 Nov. 2026
People who earn at least 50,000 pounds ($67,000) a year will only have to wait five years, as will public-sector workers including doctors, nurses and teachers.

— ABC News, ABC News, 2 Nov. 2026