bureaucracy
Pluralbureaucracies (some meanings)
- 1Too many rules and slow steps that make simple things hard to get done.
Like having to fill out form after form just to ask one easy question.
The bureaucracy at the office made it take weeks to get one small permit.
We lost a whole afternoon to bureaucracy just to change a single form.
Similarpaperwork, officialdom
Note
- 2The group of officials and workers who run a government or large organization.
Like the staff who keep a school running behind the scenes.
The country's bureaucracy employs thousands of people in offices across the nation.
Much of the bureaucracy stayed in place after the new president took office.
Similarofficialdom, administration
Note
- 3A way of running a country where appointed officials, not elected leaders, hold the power.
Like a school where the office staff, not the principal, decide everything.
Some critics said the country had drifted into bureaucracy, with officials making all the decisions.
Under bureaucracy, unelected officers shape much of everyday life.
Note
- 4A system that splits work into departments with clear ranks and set jobs to handle large amounts of work.
Like sorting mail, where each person handles one step before passing it on.
The company built a bureaucracy to handle its growing number of orders.
A well-run bureaucracy lets a large agency process thousands of cases each week.
Similaradministration, hierarchy
Note
Practice
Can you tell the meanings of bureaucracy apart? Answer 4 quick questions from this page, or write your own sentence and AI will check it.
Origin
This word comes from French bureaucratie. It joins bureau, meaning "office," with -cratie, meaning "rule of."