apparatchik Hear it!

apparatchik Definition

ap·pa·rat·chik (äp′ə rä′c̸hik)

noun pl. -·chiks or -·chiki-c̸hi kē

  1. a member, esp. an official, of a Communist Party
  2. a member of any political organization; esp., a bureaucrat

Etymology: Russ < apparat

apparatchik Usage Examples

Converse of object

  • play: In Ninotchka ( 1939 ), playing a Soviet apparatchik, she goes from macho, humorless Russian, to glamorous Parisian party girl.
  • determine: He soon learned he had to fight against a host of culture apparatchiks determined to defend communist folk music to the bitter end.

Adjective modifier

  • communist: He remains, in his atrophied heart, a shrewd Communist apparatchik.
  • former: The former apparatchik was Joseph Stiglitz, ex-chief economist of the World Bank.
  • Trotskyite: His dismissal of the SSP executive as " Trotskyite apparatchiks " ( this to the right wing press ) is especially pernicious.

Noun used with modifier

  • party: I prefer to vote for a person, rather than a party apparatchik.
  • culture: He soon learned he had to fight against a host of culture apparatchiks determined to defend communist folk music to the bitter end.