bureaucracy

Meaning

1. (countable, uncountable) Government by bureaus or their administrators or officers.
2. (countable, uncountable) A system of administration based upon organisation into bureaus, division of labour, a hierarchy of authority, etc., designed to dispose of a large body of work in a routine manner.
3. (countable, uncountable) The body of officers and administrators, especially of a government.
4. (countable, derogatory, uncountable) Excessive red tape and routine in any administration, body or behaviour.

Synonyms

red tape

officialdom

bureaucratism

officialism

government service

formalism

public service

apparat

red-tapism

bureaucratic organization

crown service

administration

service of the crown

bureaucracies

bureaucrat

bureaucrats

mumbo jumbo

officials

Translations

bureaucratie

Bürokratie

burocracia

burocrazia

burocracia

γραφειοκρατία

bureaucratie

burocràcia

bürokrasi

kırtasiyecilik

Burocracia

ambtenarij

بِيرُوقْراطِيّة

Beamtenkreise

Pronounced as (IPA)

/bjʊəˈɹɒkɹəsi/

Etymology

From bureau + -cracy, from French bureaucratie, coined by Jean Claude Marie Vincent de Gournay from bureau (“office”) + -cratie (“rule of”).