bumbledom

British

/ ˈbʌmbəldəm /

noun

self-importance in a minor office

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of bumbledom

C19: after Bumble , name of the beadle in Dickens' Oliver Twist (1837–38)

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.

From this position of vantage, it has been his humor to attack established institutions and the entrenched powers of political and musical bumbledom with devastating gusto.

From Time Magazine Archive

This character has given to the language the word bumbledom, the officious arrogance and bumptious conceit of a parish authority or petty dignitary.

From Character Sketches of Romance, Fiction and the Drama, Vol. 1 A Revised American Edition of the Reader's Handbook by Brewer, Ebenezer Cobham

They would not only have one member, but would have half the aldermen, half the town-councillors, half the mayor, half the patronage in beadles, bell-ringers and bumbledom in general.

From Ralph the Heir by Trollope, Anthony

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023