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:

Other Word Forms of Bureaucracy

Noun

Singular:
bureaucracy
Plural:
bureaucracies

Origin 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

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bureaucracy