bureaucratic
Americanadjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
- antibureaucratic adjective
- bureaucratically adverb
- nonbureaucratic adjective
- nonbureaucratically adverb
- semibureaucratic adjective
- semibureaucratically adverb
- unbureaucratic adjective
- unbureaucratically adverb
Etymology
Origin of bureaucratic
From the French word bureaucratique, dating back to 1830–40. See bureaucrat, -ic
Explanation
Anything bureaucratic has to do with the business of running an organization — usually not in a very efficient manner. If there are bureaucrats or a bureaucracy involved, go ahead and call it bureaucratic. This adjective is used in a negative sense to describe a person or organization more concerned with following procedures than being guided by common sense. Bureaucratic things usually involve loads of paperwork and nonsensical rules, otherwise known as "red tape" — a connection that originated in the 17th century when official documents were bound together with actual red tape.
Vocabulary lists containing bureaucratic
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
“Many of these individuals are effectively prisoners of bureaucratic incompetence, inaction, and indecision, held in place not by law, but by a system that has failed to move.”
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 7, 2026
We’re talking about an enormous bureaucratic organization with 2,000 years of weird and troubled history, whose massive internal contradictions and bitter factional disputes are only partly visible to outsiders.
From Salon • Apr. 5, 2026
Deported not to their homelands but to unfamiliar cities deep inside Mexico, thousands of migrants are stranded in a dangerous, bureaucratic limbo with little support and no clear path forward.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 1, 2026
Others described the bill as a form of "medical gatekeeping", arguing that added bureaucratic layers could leave many people without legal recognition or essential services.
From Barron's • Mar. 24, 2026
In lofty bureaucratic doublespeak the policy was called the School Improvement Plan.
From "Friday Night Lights: A Town, A Team, And A Dream" by H.G. Bissinger
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
