bureaucrat
noun
Did you know?
In French, a bureau is a desk, so bureaucracy means basically "government by people at desks". Despite the bad-mouthing they often get, partly because they usually have to stick so close to the rules, bureaucrats do almost all the day-to-day work that keeps a government running. The idea of a bureaucracy is to split up the complicated task of governing a large country into smaller jobs that can be handled by specialists. Bureaucratic government is nothing new; the Roman empire had an enormous and complex bureaucracy, with the bureaucrats at lower levels reporting to bureaucrats above them, and so on up to the emperor himself.
Synonyms of bureaucrat
Examples of bureaucrat in a Sentence
Anna Nemtsova, Time, 23 May 2026
The Empire is full of bickering bureaucrats, which is fun to watch though bad for getting the Death Star done in a timely manner, and Darth Vader power walks into scenes that both undermine his icon status yet also cement it.
—Brian Truitt, USA Today, 20 May 2026
The system may also be more efficient, as more money goes directly to the people who need it rather than bureaucrats or nonprofit workers.
—Allison Schrager, Twin Cities, 19 May 2026
If its many bureaucrats cannot successfully pick economic winners, neither can presidential appointees.
—Veronique De Rugy, Oc Register, 19 May 2026
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Cite this Entry
“Bureaucrat.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bureaucrat. Accessed 29 May. 2026.
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bureaucrat
noun
