bureaucrat

noun

bu·​reau·​crat ˈbyu̇r-ə-ˌkrat 

ˈbyər-

: a member of a bureaucracy

government bureaucrats

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

• civil servant
• functionary
• mandarin
• public servant

Examples of bureaucrat in a Sentence

the bureaucrats at the town hall seem to think that we need a building permit to build a tree house

Recent Examples on the Web

Congress should write the rules – not punt to unaccountable bureaucrats. —The Editorial Board, Orange County Register, 28 June 2024

Revoking Chevron means that businesses frustrated by regulations don’t have to appeal to scientists and bureaucrats but can, instead, hire lawyers and talk to judges — terrain where their odds of success are much higher in part because the judges aren’t subject-matter experts. —Philip Bump, Washington Post, 28 June 2024

In the late 1940s, Eleanor Roosevelt chaired a group of lawyers, representatives from nongovernmental organizations, and state bureaucrats from around the world who produced the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: the foundation for today’s human rights regime. —Tanisha M. Fazal, Foreign Affairs, 18 June 2024

But red tape in the German Reich and obstinate bureaucrats at the State Department created one delay after another. —Hollace Ava Weiner, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 15 June 2024

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from French bureaucrate, after bureaucratie — more at bureaucracy, -crat

First Known Use

1832, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

bureaucrat

noun

bu·​reau·​crat ˈbyu̇r-ə-ˌkrat 

: a member of a bureaucracy