bureaucrat

[byoor-uh-krat]

noun

1. an official of a bureaucracy.

2. an official who works by fixed routine without exercising intelligent judgment.

bureaucrat

/ ˈbjʊərəˌkræt, bjʊəˈrɒkrəˌtɪzəm /

noun

1. an official in a bureaucracy

2. an official who adheres to bureaucracy, esp rigidly

bureaucrat

1. Someone who works in or controls a bureaucracy. The term is often used negatively to describe a petty, narrow-minded person. (See also conformity and organization man (see also organization man).)

Other Word Forms

• bureaucratism noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of bureaucrat¹

From the French word bureaucrate, dating back to 1835–45. See bureau, -crat

Example Sentences

As these radicals and bureaucrats fudge the line between truth and fiction, they also lose sight of whether they want to live in a democracy or a dictatorship.

From Los Angeles Times

Some officials rejected complaints, with one Krasnoyarsk bureaucrat suggesting remote workers who lost income should "go and work for the special military operation", as the war in Ukraine is known in Russia.

From BBC

They swapped war stories about the government fraud they had exposed and the wasteful bureaucrats they had brought to heel.

From Salon

"American businesses do not surrender their First Amendment rights because a foreign bureaucrat sends them an email," they wrote.

From BBC

And when describing her underachieving brother’s shortcomings, she says, “He’s got the brains of a dung beetle and the ambitions of a French bureaucrat.”

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• administrator 
• civil servant 
• functionary 
• politician 
• public servant