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 ).)

Derived Forms

• bureaucratism, noun

Other Words From

• bu·reau·crat·ism [byoor, -, uh, -krat-iz-, uh, m, by, oo, -, rok, -r, uh, -tiz-], noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of bureaucrat¹

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

Example Sentences

Chief administrative officer Helen Robbins-Meyer, the county’s top bureaucrat, cautioned officials against making that the norm.

From Voice of San Diego

Karma Ura is a bespectacled, self-effacing man of many achievements—a scholar, writer, painter, and bureaucrat.

From MIT Technology Review

Generally, they’ve campaigned on a message that county officials are reactive and take their cues from the top bureaucrats rather than the other way around.

From Voice of San Diego

Michell’s announcement ensures that the city’s next mayor will choose the city’s next top bureaucrat.

From Voice of San Diego

For Election Administrators, Death Threats Have Become Part of the JobIn a polarized society, the bureaucrats who operate the machinery of democracy are taking flak from all sides.

From ProPublica

He concentrates on a handful of characters that includes a doctor, a bureaucrat, a criminal, a priest, and a journalist.

From The Daily Beast

The EU needs another Greece or Portugal dragging down the euro like the EU needs another bureaucrat in Brussels.

From The Daily Beast

After all, there will always be a bureaucrat, politician, or judge eager to set the limits on what is unacceptably offensive.

From The Daily Beast

Faisal Khan, a 28-year-old government bureaucrat in Peshawar, says he would get fired or worse if he came out.

From The Daily Beast

And he spent virtually all his career as a government bureaucrat—as an official at the Treasury Department and the New York Fed.

From The Daily Beast

His former associates regarded him as a renegade; independent observers found in him an energetic and arbitrary bureaucrat.

From Project Gutenberg

The wealthy and the educated know how to placate the bureaucrat and get what they want.

From Project Gutenberg

What had become of the lesson in decorum which should have been taught to this vulgar little bureaucrat?

From Project Gutenberg

What does your worker think when he sees the bureaucrat living in luxury while his wage is a comparatively meager one?

From Project Gutenberg

The new Czar was greatly influenced by his former tutor, the reactionary bureaucrat Pobiedonostzev.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

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