as in minion
disapproving
a very loyal member of an organization (such as a company or political party) who always obeys orders
party apparatchiks
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Recent Examples of apparatchik
There were several oligarchs who helped Putin rise from a K.G.B. apparatchik in Leningrad to autocrat in the Kremlin.
—
Maureen Dowd, New York Times, 20 Apr. 2024
In the intensely ideological and conformist atmosphere of today’s China, no apparatchik will depart from the safety of the party line without a clear signal from the leader.
—Danny Russel, Foreign Affairs, 14 Nov. 2021
Decades after the fall of the Soviet Union, Cold War ideology continues to form Western perceptions of the Eastern Bloc as a backward region, uniformly totalitarian, where everybody was either an apparatchik or a dissident.
—Jonathon Keats, Forbes, 29 Feb. 2024
Romania’s new leader after Mr. Ceausescu’s capture and execution was Ion Iliescu, a Communist apparatchik who served two terms as Romania’s first post-Communist president.
—Andrew Higgins, New York Times, 25 Sep. 2023
See all Example Sentences for apparatchik 
Maureen Dowd, New York Times, 20 Apr. 2024
In the intensely ideological and conformist atmosphere of today’s China, no apparatchik will depart from the safety of the party line without a clear signal from the leader.
—Danny Russel, Foreign Affairs, 14 Nov. 2021
Decades after the fall of the Soviet Union, Cold War ideology continues to form Western perceptions of the Eastern Bloc as a backward region, uniformly totalitarian, where everybody was either an apparatchik or a dissident.
—Jonathon Keats, Forbes, 29 Feb. 2024
Romania’s new leader after Mr. Ceausescu’s capture and execution was Ion Iliescu, a Communist apparatchik who served two terms as Romania’s first post-Communist president.
—Andrew Higgins, New York Times, 25 Sep. 2023
See all Example Sentences for apparatchik
Recent Examples of Synonyms for apparatchik
Noun
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And her reign is supported by her (mostly) devoted minions, played by Bowen Yang and Bronwyn James.—
Sara Netzley,
EW.com,
30 Dec. 2024
-
Not even the dynamic duos of Joy and Anxiety, Deadpool and Wolverine, Gru and his minions or Paul Atreides and those massive sandworms could push the 2024 box office to pre-pandemic heights.—
Rebecca Rubin,
Variety,
2 Jan. 2025
Noun
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Despite the removal of troops from Afghanistan, something that had been promised by successive presidents before him, by voters for errors in the withdrawal, which included the deaths of 13 U.S. soldiers.—
Theo Burman,
Newsweek,
20 Jan. 2025
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The pair later spent nearly half an hour in Section 60, the burial site for military personnel killed while fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq, talking with families of soldiers who died in the 2021 Kabul airport bombing.—
WILL WEISSERT,
arkansasonline.com,
20 Jan. 2025
Noun
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Still, the movement has adherents who prize the Brutalist aesthetic for its honesty.—
Alex Greenberger,
ARTnews.com,
14 Jan. 2025
-
David and Sheila were among England’s earliest adherents to Scientology.—
Lila Shapiro,
Vulture,
13 Jan. 2025
Noun
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The current cast is rounded out by Alison Brie, who will play another Skeletor lackey, Evil-Lyn, Idris Elba, who will play the noble Man-at-Arms, and Riverdale's Camila Mendes as Teela, Man-at-Arms's daughter and He-Man's right-hand woman.—
Ryan Coleman,
EW.com,
21 Dec. 2024
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Among the most glaring examples is Ninth Division Commander Gen. Roh Tae-gun (Park Jae-hoon, excellent), a weak-willed lackey seduced by power and greed who’s based on Roh Tae-woo, Chun’s successor as president in 1988.—
Richard Kuipers,
Variety,
17 Dec. 2024
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Cite this Entry
“Apparatchik.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/apparatchik. Accessed 30 Jan. 2025.
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