1
as in official
a person who holds a public office
spoke to high-ranking functionaries at the embassy in the hopes that they could help
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2
as in bureaucrat
a worker in a government agency
the faceless functionaries at the Internal Revenue Service
Synonyms & Similar Words
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of functionary
Bigelow’s sympathetic eye for her functionaries risks the film being misread as an argument for more robust military funding.
—
Nicholas Quah, Vulture, 24 Oct. 2025
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
See All Example Sentences for functionary
Nicholas Quah, Vulture, 24 Oct. 2025
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
See All Example Sentences for functionary
Recent Examples of Synonyms for functionary
Noun
-
Many city officials and others are furious about what's happening.—
Jessica Mekles,
FOXNews.com,
5 Feb. 2026
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Asked about the pending deadline, a White House official told USA TODAY that Trump would like to keep limits on nuclear weapons and involve China in arms control talks.—
Cybele Mayes-Osterman,
USA Today,
5 Feb. 2026
Noun
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Goetz understood this disorder not as the product of scant civic resources or state retreat but rather as the result of liberal misrule—do-gooder bureaucrats, failed social programs, and a city that had coddled the undeserving and the criminal.—
Heather Ann Thompson,
The Atlantic,
26 Jan. 2026
-
The bureaucrats operating Obamacare couldn’t care less about the taxpayers footing the bill.—
Betsy McCaughey,
Boston Herald,
18 Jan. 2026
Noun
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The military offers its officers a variety of opportunities to get graduate-level education both at war colleges run by the military as well as civilian institutions like Harvard.—
JOCELYN GECKER,
Arkansas Online,
8 Feb. 2026
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The trial is part of a broader push to hold more people accountable for a school shooting, a group that has grown to include parents and responding law enforcement officers.—
Eric Levenson,
CNN Money,
8 Feb. 2026
Noun
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Lakeside's previous police chief, who also served as mayor, Robert Gordanaire, was fired after he and his daughter, the town clerk, were indicted by a grand jury for selling vehicles belonging to the town and pocketing the profit.—
Brian Maass,
CBS News,
27 Jan. 2026
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According to prosecutors, Trammell flashed a knife at a store clerk in the Morena neighborhood and then held a homeless man hostage at knifepoint.—
Alex Riggins,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
26 Jan. 2026
Noun
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One thousand construction workers are set to lose jobs on the tunnel project this weekend as construction winds down for lack of funds.—
Evan Simko-Bednarski,
New York Daily News,
6 Feb. 2026
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The union ratified a new contract covering 2,400 mental health and addiction medicine employees in Southern California last year, but negotiations continue for Marcucci-Morris and other Northern California mental health workers.—
Queenie Wong,
Los Angeles Times,
6 Feb. 2026
Noun
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However, regulatory pressure on Coupang intensified further after the e-commerce giant suffered a data breach perpetrated by a former Chinese employee in November.—
David Zimmermann,
The Washington Examiner,
6 Feb. 2026
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However, as our employee survey reminds us every year, people are here to serve the mission, and over the last five years our founders and staff have never wavered in their commitment to helping build a world where every person has the opportunity to live a healthy and productive life.—
Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson,
semafor.com,
6 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Functionary.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/functionary. Accessed 10 Feb. 2026.
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