bureaucracy
government by many bureaus, administrators, and petty officials.
the body of officials and administrators, especially of a government or government department.
excessive multiplication of, and concentration of power in, administrative bureaus or administrators.
administration characterized by excessive red tape and routine.
Origin of bureaucracy
1Words Nearby bureaucracy
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use bureaucracy in a sentence
Your new identity involves much bureaucracy—driver’s license, passport, health insurance card must be updated, and so you stop to have your photo taken.
This could—according to the official line—improve public services, cut down on voter fraud, and reduce bureaucracy.
Brazil is sliding into techno-authoritarianism | Tate Ryan-Mosley | August 19, 2020 | MIT Technology ReviewThe culprit is bureaucracy—with its authoritarian power structures, suffocating rules, and toxic politicking.
That, says Vondracek, is why his experience is a lesson for countries battling with clunky bureaucracies but endowed with the power of a relatively savvy and tech-minded population.
That’s particularly true when it comes to the presidency, which oversees a vast federal bureaucracy influencing trillions of dollars in spending.
Oil companies are backing Trump’s re-election after giving heavily to Clinton in 2016 | Michael J. Coren | August 7, 2020 | Quartz
Senseless bureaucracy is part of what spawned the Tea Party.
Depressing is really what Cuba has become—repression, bureaucracy, and crippling poverty.
He was widely perceived as having been outplayed by a vast military bureaucracy that he never sought to tame.
Hagel Takes a Bullet for Obama: Inside the Defense Secretary’s Sudden Firing | Shane Harris, Tim Mak | November 24, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTThey described the challenges of finding work and of dealing with the military bureaucracy.
Live from San Antonio: Women in the World Texas! | Women in the World | October 23, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTThe sheer amount of redundant bureaucracy needs to be eliminated.
America’s Advanced Stealth Jet Flies on 1990s Tech | Dave Majumdar | October 1, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTAlmost the worst kind of government that can be placed upon a people is a bureaucracy.
And in the same manner as in Prussia, a portion of the bureaucracy joined the bourgeoisie.
Revolution and Counter-Revolution | Karl MarxRoger found all the civilisation, culture, and well-ordered bureaucracy of the Moor firmly established.
Cathedral Cities of Italy | William Wiehe CollinsIn the first place, may I point out that we have not up to now non-co-operated with the bureaucracy?
Freedom Through Disobedience | C. R. (Chittaranjan) DasThe time must soon come when the bureaucracy must yield or withdraw the Reforms Act.
Freedom Through Disobedience | C. R. (Chittaranjan) Das
British Dictionary definitions for bureaucracy
/ (bjʊəˈrɒkrəsɪ) /
a system of administration based upon organization into bureaus, division of labour, a hierarchy of authority, etc: designed to dispose of a large body of work in a routine manner
government by such a system
government or other officials collectively
any administration in which action is impeded by unnecessary official procedures and red tape
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
Cultural definitions for bureaucracy
[ (byoo-rok-ruh-see) ]
A formal, hierarchical organization with many levels in which tasks, responsibilities, and authority are delegated among individuals, offices, or departments, held together by a central administration. According to many sociologists and anthropologists, the development of bureaucratic organizations is necessary for the emergence of any modern civilization. (See Max Weber.)
Notes for bureaucracy
The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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