an official in a bureaucracy, esp. one who follows a routine in a mechanical, unimaginative way, insisting on proper forms, petty rules, etc.
noun
- A senator is an example of a bureaucrat.
- A manager overly concerned with power and procedure instead of people is an example of a bureaucrat.
The definition of a bureaucrat is a person with an official position in the government, or a term used to describe someone in a position of power who is more concerned with procedure or policy than with people's needs.
YourDictionary definition and usage example. Copyright © 2018 by LoveToKnow Corp
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"bureaucrat." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 18 December 2018. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/bureaucrat>.
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bureaucrat. (n.d.). Retrieved December 18th, 2018, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/bureaucrat
bureaucrat
Webster's New World College Dictionary, Fifth Edition Copyright © 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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MLA Style
"bureaucrat." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 18 December 2018. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/bureaucrat>.
APA Style
bureaucrat. (n.d.). Retrieved December 18th, 2018, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/bureaucrat
bureaucrat
noun
- An official of a bureaucracy.
- An official who is rigidly devoted to the details of administrative procedure.
Related Forms:
- bu′reau·crat′ic
adjective
- bu′reau·crat′i·cal·ly
adverb
THE AMERICAN HERITAGE® DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE, FIFTH EDITION by the Editors of the American Heritage Dictionaries. Copyright © 2016, 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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MLA Style
"bureaucrat." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 18 December 2018. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/bureaucrat>.
APA Style
bureaucrat. (n.d.). Retrieved December 18th, 2018, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/bureaucrat
Usage notes
- (an official): The term bureaucrat, while often used in a professional and respectful manner, is oftentimes disdained by those who work in organizations, especially governmental organizations. This is due to connotations of rigidity, indifference, and especially laziness that the term can sometimes connote (the latter especially reflected in the oft-repeated derisive term lazy bureaucrat). As a result, many workers in organizations, especially governmental organizations, prefer terms such as manager, public manager, public servant, public official, etc.
Origin
From French bureaucrate.
English Wiktionary. Available under CC-BY-SA license.
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Cite this page
MLA Style
"bureaucrat." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 18 December 2018. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/bureaucrat>.
APA Style
bureaucrat. (n.d.). Retrieved December 18th, 2018, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/bureaucrat
Sentence Examples
- History relates that Clara Barton, a teacher and bureaucrat, went to Europe on the advice of her doctors for some rest and relaxation.
- Dolores Umbridge: A bureaucrat who punishes kids by making them carve "I must not tell lies" with their own blood?
- He was known as a capable and energetic bureaucrat and as nothing else.
- They're inspecting today and we can't go forward until some bureaucrat clears us.
Words near bureaucrat in the dictionary
- bureaucrat
- bureaucratese
- bureaucratic
- bureaucratical