paper-pusher
Americannoun
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a person who has a routine desk job.
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a bureaucrat.
Other Word Forms
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.
But in January, Mr. Putin transferred command of Ukraine operations to General Gerasimov, handing the reins to someone Mr. Prigozhin regularly pilloried as an incompetent paper-pusher.
From New York Times ● Jul. 12, 2023
The staff secretary is not a robotic paper-pusher, but a key presidential adviser.
From Washington Post ● Sep. 4, 2018
The baffled facial expressions that drove Krasinski’s humorous portrayal of paper-pusher Jim Halpert have been replaced by exasperation in this setting, with the more ominous theme of national security hanging in the balance.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 30, 2018
Ortiz delivers a slightly magical paper-pusher, Keener is a woman broken by sadness as we watch helplessly, and Hamm is as stoic outside as he is broken inside.
From Washington Times ● Feb. 13, 2018
DM There's quite a limited range of boss tropes: the paper-pusher, so you get the renegade cop coming up against the suit.
From The Guardian ● Aug. 24, 2012
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.
