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

Americans see a broken federal government — but aren’t as concerned about the ‘deep state’ As Trump sweeps into his second term with promises to cut regulations and reduce the role of government bureaucrats, most Americans think the federal government has serious problems. —Linley Sanders, Chicago Tribune, 24 Jan. 2025

Those bureaucrats, in order to save face for the Communist Party, have sanctioned the Rubio from before. —Raul A. Reyes, Newsweek, 22 Jan. 2025

Federal workers see Schedule F as a way to insert politics into government actions, a move that could both reward Trump allies and politicize government decision-making while allowing swift firing of career bureaucrats. —Rebecca Beitsch, The Hill, 21 Jan. 2025

This stops bureaucrats from advancing well-meaning policy measures. —Victor Cha, Fortune Asia, 18 Jan. 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