Bureaucracy Definition
byo͝o-rŏkrə-sē
bureaucracies
noun
bureaucracies
The administration of government through departments and subdivisions managed by sets of appointed officials following an inflexible routine.
Webster's New World
The officials collectively.
Webster's New World
Management or administration marked by hierarchical authority among numerous offices and by fixed procedures.
The new department head did not know much about bureaucracy.
American Heritage
Governmental officialism or inflexible routine.
Webster's New World
The concentration of authority in a complex structure of administrative bureaus.
Webster's New World
Synonyms:
- bureaucratism
- beadledom
- officialism
- bumbledom
- official procedure
- red-tape
- inflexible routine
- strict procedure
- the system
- them
- they
- apparatchiki
- the Establishment
- administration
- officialdom
Other Word Forms of Bureaucracy
Noun
Singular:
bureaucracyPlural:
bureaucraciesOrigin of Bureaucracy
-
bureau + -cracy, from French bureaucratie, coined by Jean Claude Marie Vincent de Gournay (died 1759) from bureau (“office”) + -cratie (“rule of”)
From Wiktionary
-
French bureaucratie bureau office bureau -cratie rule (from Old French –cracy)
From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition
Find Similar Words
Find similar words to bureaucracy using the buttons below.