bureau
Americannoun
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bureaus,
plural
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bureaux
plural
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a chest of drawers, often with a mirror at the top.
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a division of a government department or an independent administrative unit.
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an office for collecting or distributing news or information, coordinating work, or performing specified services; agency.
a travel bureau; a news bureau.
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Chiefly British. a desk or writing table with drawers for papers.
noun
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a writing desk with pigeonholes, drawers, etc, against which the writing surface can be closed when not in use
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a chest of drawers
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an office or agency, esp one providing services for the public
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a government department
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a branch of a government department
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Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of bureau
1710–20; < French: desk, office, originally a kind of cloth (used to cover desks, etc.), Anglo-French, Old French burel, equivalent to bur- (probably < *būra, variant of Late Latin burra wool, fluff ; cf. bourrée) + -el noun suffix
Explanation
When you put your socks away, you'll most likely put them in a bureau, or a chest of drawers used for storing clothes. Hopefully you've washed them. A dresser or a chest of drawers can also be called a bureau, a piece of furniture with drawers for storing things. Another meaning of bureau is "an office or government agency." These two definitions seem unrelated, but the original meaning of the French word bureau, "cloth covering for a desk" helps explain. Bureau gradually evolved to mean first just "desk" (and eventually "dresser"), and around 1720 it also started being used to mean a room full of desks, or an office.
Vocabulary lists containing bureau
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"The Yellow Wallpaper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
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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.
See Examples For:
Oscar Barragan, who oversaw the agency’s special enforcement bureau, be discharged for violating the department’s policies on dishonesty and obstructing an investigation, according to an internal July 14 memo reviewed by The Times.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 4, 2026
Katherine Sayre is a music-industry and podcasting reporter in The Wall Street Journal's Los Angeles bureau.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 4, 2026
Once he knew the bureau was investigating him criminally, Yaroch stopped talking to investigators and said he wanted to consult with a lawyer.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 3, 2026
The bureau also cited an increase in imports -- which are subtracted from GDP -- as a factor in Thursday's data.
From Barron's ● Jul. 30, 2026
But he took it from the top of the bureau and went to the bathroom.
From "All About Sam" by Lois Lowry
Credit bureaus such as Equifax have recently said VantageScore adoption is gaining momentum, the analysts say.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 31, 2026
Landlords historically did not report on-time rent payments to credit bureaus, but housing and consumer advocates have long argued that renters should receive credit for making their largest monthly payment on time.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 2, 2026
He has held numerous roles at the network over a four decade run, anchoring the “CBS Evening News,” co-hosting the division’s weekday and Saturday morning shows, covering business and reporting from overseas bureaus.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 1, 2026
VantageScore is a joint venture of credit bureaus Equifax, TransUnion, and Experian.
From Barron's ● Apr. 29, 2026
With 2,300 journalists around the world, in 197 bureaus, serving a market including investment bankers, derivatives traders, stockbrokers, newspapers, radio, television, and Internet outlets, Reuters has always had a very complex audience to satisfy.
From "The World Is Flat" by Thomas L. Friedman
Guests were seen hugging, making calls, texting friends and loved ones, and their news bureaux.
From Barron's ● Apr. 26, 2026
Last year Russian state media claimed that RT had seven bureaux in Africa, although this cannot be independently verified.
From BBC ● Aug. 24, 2025
A Western intelligence source said techniques were used in Sudan that are common to organised crime: Companies were headed by trustee shareholders, rents collected in cash, and transfers made through exchange bureaux.
From Reuters ● Sep. 23, 2021
It's recently been adding international bureaux, including a UK headquarters in Scotland.
From BBC ● Feb. 10, 2017
You probably read it in an unfinished state; it has, no doubt, been completed, perfected in the capital, in the Ministerial bureaux.
From No Surrender by E. T. C. (Edward Theodore Chalmers) Werner
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.
