apparatchik

[ah-puh-rah-chik, uh-puh-raht-chyik]

noun

plural

apparatchiks ,

plural

apparatchiki .

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

apparatchik

/ ˌæpəˈrɑːtʃɪk /

noun

1. a member of a Communist apparat

2. an official or bureaucrat in any organization

Word History and Origins

Origin of apparatchik¹

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of apparatchik¹

C20 from Russian, from apparat apparatus, instrument + -ckik , suffix denoting agent

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.

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

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

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

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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?

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