bureaucrat

bu·reau·crat
B3U1R1E1A1U1C3R1A1T1
UK/ˈbjʊəɹəkɹæt/US/ˈbjʊɹəkɹæt/

noun

An official who is part of a bureaucracy.

Less commonScrabble 14

Meanings

nounbureaucrat (plural bureaucrats)

plural bureaucrats

  1. An official who is part of a bureaucracy.

    At the Oval Office signing ceremony, Musk responded to critiques that he’s become the very thing he claims to be fighting — an unelected bureaucrat with enormous power — by pointing to the 2024 results: “You couldn’t ask for a stronger mandate from the public.”

    2025 February 14, Marshall Cohen, “The almighty Musk: How the world’s richest man became Washington’s most powerful bureaucrat”, in CNN, archived from the original on 21 Feb 2025
    1 more example

    Coristine, who had signed onto the telemeeting using a non-government email address, gave the bureaucrats swift marching orders, telling them he needed access to the federal department’s contract and payment systems before reportedly making them justify their jobs at the $1 billion-budget administration.

    2025 February 7, Josie Ensor, “Meet Elon Musk’s ‘baby-faced assassins’ leading Doge takeover”, in The Times, archived from the original on 27 Jan 2026
  2. wiki jargonA user on a wiki with the right to change users' access levels.
    1 more example

    One of three major processes is generally used: a bureaucrat review, a broader community review, or an approvals group review. As only local bureaucrats or Wikimedia stewards can grant the bot flag necessary to operate an authorized bot, the simplest method is to appeal directly to these individuals.

    2014, Pnina Fichman, Noriko Hara, editors, Global Wikipedia: International and Cross-Cultural Issues in Online Collaboration, Rowman & Littlefield, →ISBN, page 18

Synonyms & antonyms

nounan official of a bureaucracy

Similar
administrative official

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

  1. Proto-Indo-European*péh₂wr̥
  2. Proto-Hellenic*pāwər
  3. Ancient Greekπῦρ (pûr)
  4. Ancient Greekπῠρρός (pŭrrhós)
  5. Latinburrus
  6. Latinburra
  7. Old French*bure
  8. Old Frenchburel
  9. Frenchbureau
  10. Proto-Indo-European*kret-
  11. Ancient Greekκρᾰ́τος (krắtos)
  12. Frenchbureaucratie
  13. Frenchbureaucrate
  14. Englishbureaucrat

From French bureaucrate, equivalent to bureau + -crat.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Arabic بِيرُوقْرَاطِيّ
  • بِيرُوقْرَاطِيّ (bīruqrāṭiyy)an official in a bureaucracy
Bulgarian бюрокра́т
  • бюрокра́т (bjurokrát)an official in a bureaucracy
Catalan buròcrata
  • buròcrataan official in a bureaucracy
Chinese Cantonese 官僚
  • 官僚 (gun¹ liu⁴)an official in a bureaucracy
Chinese Mandarin 官僚
  • 官僚 (guānliáo)an official in a bureaucracy
Czech byrokrat, byrokratka
  • byrokratan official in a bureaucracy
  • byrokratkaan official in a bureaucracy
Danish bureaukrat
  • bureaukratan official in a bureaucracy
Dutch bureaucraat
  • bureaucraatan official in a bureaucracy
Esperanto burokrato
  • burokratoan official in a bureaucracy
Estonian bürokraat
  • bürokraatan official in a bureaucracy
Finnish byrokraatti
  • byrokraattian official in a bureaucracy
French bureaucrate
  • bureaucratean official in a bureaucracy
German Bürokrat, Bürokratin
  • Bürokratan official in a bureaucracy
  • Bürokratinan official in a bureaucracy
Greek γραφειοκράτης
  • γραφειοκράτης (grafeiokrátis)an official in a bureaucracy
Hindi नौकरशाह, अफ़सर
  • नौकरशाह (naukraśāh)an official in a bureaucracy
  • अफ़सर (afsar)an official in a bureaucracy
  • अफसर (aphsar)an official in a bureaucracy
Hungarian bürokrata
  • bürokrataan official in a bureaucracy
Icelandic kerfiskarl
  • kerfiskarlan official in a bureaucracy
Indonesian birokrat
  • birokratan official in a bureaucracy
Irish maorlathaí
  • maorlathaían official in a bureaucracy
Italian burocrate
  • burocratean official in a bureaucracy
Japanese 官僚
  • 官僚 (kanryō)an official in a bureaucracy
Korean 관료
  • 관료 (gwallyo)an official in a bureaucracy
Latvian birokrāts
  • birokrātsan official in a bureaucracy
Lithuanian biurokratas
  • biurokratasan official in a bureaucracy
Malay birokrat
  • birokratan official in a bureaucracy
Norwegian Bokmål byråkrat
  • byråkratan official in a bureaucracy
Persian بوروکرات
  • بوروکرات (burokrât)an official in a bureaucracy
Polish biurokrata
  • biurokrataan official in a bureaucracy
Portuguese burocrata
  • burocrataan official in a bureaucracy
Romanian birocrat, birocrată
  • birocratan official in a bureaucracy
  • birocratăan official in a bureaucracy
Russian бюрокра́т
  • бюрокра́т (bjurokrát)an official in a bureaucracy
Slovak byrokrat, byrokratka
  • byrokratan official in a bureaucracy
  • byrokratkaan official in a bureaucracy
Spanish burócrata
  • burócrataan official in a bureaucracy
Swedish byråkrat
  • byråkratan official in a bureaucracy
Turkish bürokrat
  • bürokratan official in a bureaucracy
Ukrainian бюрокра́т, бюрокра́тка
  • бюрокра́т (bjurokrát)an official in a bureaucracy
  • бюрокра́тка (bjurokrátka)an official in a bureaucracy
Urdu ضابِطَہ پَرَسْت
  • ضابِطَہ پَرَسْت (zābitā parast)an official in a bureaucracy
Vietnamese kẻ quan liêu
  • kẻ quan liêuan official in a bureaucracy
Yiddish ביוראָקראַט
  • ביוראָקראַט (byurokrat)an official in a bureaucracy
Cite this entry
APA

bureaucrat. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bureaucrat

MLA

“bureaucrat.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bureaucrat. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “bureaucrat,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bureaucrat.

Source: bureaucrat on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.