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

Itay’s official cinematic and cultural organizations and departments have partnered effectively with the Venice Festival, even if those partnerships were often fraught with pressures as competing arts fiefdoms set bureaucrat against bureaucrat. —Steven Gaydos, Variety, 18 Feb. 2025

Current and former officials see it as a campaign of retribution against those who opposed his earlier work, as well as an opportunity to fulfill his most controversial policies by sidelining bureaucrats who get in his way. —Brett Murphy, ProPublica, 16 Feb. 2025

While examples of government waste by California politicians and bureaucrats are legion, nothing beats HSR for wasting billions for a project that wasn’t even half-baked at inception. —Jon Coupal, Orange County Register, 15 Feb. 2025

The bureaucrats don’t want to follow his other order requiring them to show up at their offices. —Paul Bedard, Washington Examiner - Political News and Conservative Analysis About Congress, the President, and the Federal Government, 1 Feb. 2025

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