apparatchik

American  

[ah-puh-rah-chik, uh-puh-raht-chyik] / ˌɑ pəˈrɑ tʃɪk, ʌ pʌˈrɑt tʃyɪk /

noun

PLURAL

apparatchiks

PLURAL

apparatchiki

1. a member of an apparat, especially in a Communist country.

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apparatchik British  

/ ˌæpəˈrɑːtʃɪk /

noun

1. a member of a Communist apparat

2. an official or bureaucrat in any organization

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Etymology

Origin of apparatchik

1940–45; < Russian apparátchik, equivalent to apparát apparat + -chik agent suffix

Example Sentences

He sounds like an apparatchik addressing a party congress on the wrong side of the Iron Curtain, repeatedly declaring fealty to “the committee,” using Marxist buzzwords like “praxis,” and casually deploying “Zionist” as a slur.

From The Wall Street Journal

“Who’s going to volunteer to be the next civil servant if they think their supervisor is an apparatchik?”

From Salon

The Federal Society apparatchiks who controlled advancement didn’t know her.

From Salon

So far, Trump's apparatchiks have not blatantly defied the courts, but they're working them around the edges.

From Salon

Are they academics, scholars and scientists, or do they also include those of less elevated standing — technocrats, policy wonks, apparatchiks, pundits, journalists — who command a sizable public audience?

From Salon