PUBLIC SERVANTS Synonyms: 30 Similar Words

public servants

noun

plural of public servant

as in officials

a person who holds a public office the new governor made a vow that he would always remember why he was called a public servant

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as in civil servants

a worker in a government agency concerned that the new federal agency would just add another slew of public servants to the government payroll

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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 public servants Elon Musk waved a chainsaw on stage and laughed while firing public servants and gutting the services Americans rely on. — Katie McQue, NPR, 4 Nov. 2026 Worst of all are those who claim to be super Christian and then embrace public servants who are just plain mean, carrying themselves like adolescent schoolyard bullies without compunction. — Voice Of The People, New York Daily News, 3 Nov. 2026 The students on Thursday asked public servants to prevent outgoing officials from destroying documentation or evidence of potential wrongdoing. — Arkansas Online, 30 Oct. 2026 Kushner’s esteem for public servants has likewise tended to hover somewhere between condescension and outright disgust. — Lauren Collins, New Yorker, 26 Oct. 2026 Nonprofit leaders on Thursday said the administration's decision to drop the appeal will provide relief to many public servants. — Aimee Picchi, CBS News, 22 Oct. 2026 Digital Minister Gobind Singh Deo told Parliament on Thursday that the ban on Waze applies only to public servants carrying out official duties. — ABC News, 22 Oct. 2026 Assaults are up, almost 2,500 assaults this year alone on police officers, felony assaults, and public servants in New York City. — Robert McGreevy, FOXNews.com, 20 Oct. 2026 Career public servants are people, not pawns, and no one who has devoted their life to serving the American public should have their good name destroyed for partisan, political gain. — Rebecca Beitsch, The Hill, 13 Oct. 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for public servants

Noun

County officials estimated the increase would generate about $250,000 annually for the county’s general fund.

— Daniel Lempres, Sacbee.com, 4 Nov. 2026
Democrats fear interference and voter intimidation as his Justice Department threatens to prosecute local election officials.

— Jill Colvin, Chicago Tribune, 4 Nov. 2026

Definition of officials

Noun

The news, announced Thursday, comes after season four ended with a dramatic scene at the G7 summit, raising questions about the careers of a number of the series’ long-term civil servants.

— Hilary Lewis, HollywoodReporter, 29 Oct. 2026
The postwar model of a large welfare and regulatory state, run by a class of civil servants charged with modernizing the economy, tempering market forces and defining the common good, has run its course.

— Nicholas Bequelin, Time, 16 Oct. 2026

Definition of civil servants

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

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

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

Definition of workers

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“Public servants.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/public%20servants. Accessed 9 Nov. 2026.

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Synonyms of public servants

noun

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