Meanings
plural functionaries
- A person employed as an official in a bureaucracy (usually corporate or governmental) who holds limited authority and primarily serves to carry out a simple function for which discretion is minimal or not required.
Near-synonyms: bureaucrat; official; officer; administrator; apparatchik
1 more example
Consciences are for politicians, Bernard! We are humble functionaries whose duty it is to implement the commands of our democratically elected representatives.
1987 December 10, Antony Jay, Jonathan Lynn, “Official Secrets (Yes, Prime Minister)”, in Yes, Prime Minister, season 2, episode 2, spoken by Humphrey Appleby (Nigel Hawthorne)Synonyms: bureaucrat, official, officer, administrator, apparatchik
- Such a person who is petty, pedantic, short-sighted, uncaring, or counterproductive; sometimes also with implication of being amoral or corrupt.
Near-synonyms: bureaucrat, apparatchik; paper-pusher; bean counter
Synonyms: bureaucrat, apparatchik, paper-pusher, bean counter
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA person employed as an official in a bureaucracy (usually corporate or governmental) who holds limited authority and primarily serves to carry out a simple function for which discretion is minimal or not required.
nounSuch a person who is petty, pedantic, short-sighted, uncaring, or counterproductive; sometimes also with implication of being amoral or corrupt.
More synonyms by meaning
nouna worker who holds or is invested with an office
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Frenchfonctionnaire
- Englishfunctionary
From French fonctionnaire; by surface analysis, function + -ary.
More words from French
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian функционе́р, длъ́жностно лице́
- функционе́р (funkcionér)a person employed as an official in a bureaucracy
- длъ́жностно лице́ (dlắžnostno licé)a person employed as an official in a bureaucracy
Catalan funcionari, funcionària
- funcionaria person employed as an official in a bureaucracy
- funcionàriaa person employed as an official in a bureaucracy
Chinese Mandarin 官員 /官员, 公務員 /公务员
- 官員 /官员 (guānyuán)a person employed as an official in a bureaucracy
- 公務員 /公务员 (gōngwùyuán)a person employed as an official in a bureaucracy
Dutch functionaris
- functionarisa person employed as an official in a bureaucracy
Finnish virkailija
- virkailijaa person employed as an official in a bureaucracy
French fonctionnaire
- fonctionnairea person employed as an official in a bureaucracy
German Funktionär, Funktionärin
- Funktionära person employed as an official in a bureaucracy
- Funktionärina person employed as an official in a bureaucracy
Greek λειτουργός
- λειτουργός (leitourgós)a person employed as an official in a bureaucracy
Hungarian funkcionárius, közhivatalnok
- funkcionáriusa person employed as an official in a bureaucracy
- közhivatalnoka person employed as an official in a bureaucracy
- tisztviselőa person employed as an official in a bureaucracy
Indonesian fungsionaris
- fungsionarisa person employed as an official in a bureaucracy
Italian funzionario
- funzionarioa person employed as an official in a bureaucracy
Japanese 役人, 公務員
- 役人 (yakunin)a person employed as an official in a bureaucracy
- 公務員 (kōmuin)a person employed as an official in a bureaucracy
Korean 공무원
- 공무원 (gongmuwon)a person employed as an official in a bureaucracy
Polish funkcjonariusz, funkcjonariuszka
- funkcjonariusza person employed as an official in a bureaucracy
- funkcjonariuszkaa person employed as an official in a bureaucracy
Portuguese funcionário, funcionária
- funcionárioa person employed as an official in a bureaucracy
- funcionáriaa person employed as an official in a bureaucracy
Romanian funcționar, funcționară
- funcționara person employed as an official in a bureaucracy
- funcționarăa person employed as an official in a bureaucracy
Russian чино́вник, чино́вница
- чино́вник (činóvnik)a person employed as an official in a bureaucracy
- чино́вница (činóvnica)a person employed as an official in a bureaucracy
- должностно́е лицо́ (dolžnostnóje licó)a person employed as an official in a bureaucracy
- официа́льное лицо́ (oficiálʹnoje licó)a person employed as an official in a bureaucracy
- функционе́р (funkcionér)a person employed as an official in a bureaucracy
Spanish funcionario, funcionaria
- funcionarioa person employed as an official in a bureaucracy
- funcionariaa person employed as an official in a bureaucracy
Swedish statstjänsteman, ämbetsman
- statstjänstemana person employed as an official in a bureaucracy
- ämbetsmana person employed as an official in a bureaucracy
Ukrainian функціоне́р, функціоне́рка
- функціоне́р (funkcionér)a person employed as an official in a bureaucracy
- функціоне́рка (funkcionérka)a person employed as an official in a bureaucracy
Cite this entry
functionary. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/functionary
“functionary.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/functionary. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “functionary,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/functionary.
Source: functionary on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.