bureaucrat

/ˌbjurəˈkræt/

Other forms: bureaucrats

A bureaucrat is an administrative official who works for the government. You brought the budget office bureaucrat a book about literacy, hoping to convince him you need more funding for the library.

The word bureaucrat comes from bureaucracy, which means a system of government where state officials make decisions instead of elected ones. In America, bureaucrat often has a negative ring to it because some people think they make procedures too complicated and time-consuming — driving people crazy but ensuring they, the bureaucrats, stay busy processing it.

Definitions of bureaucrat

1. noun

   an official of a bureaucracy
   synonyms: administrative official

   types:

   bean counter

   an accountant or bureaucrat who is believed to place undue emphasis on the control of expenditures

   paper-pusher

   a clerk or bureaucrat who does paperwork

   procurator

   (ancient Rome) someone employed by the Roman Emperor to manage finance and taxes

   assessor, tax assessor

   an official who evaluates property for the purpose of taxing it

   collector of internal revenue, exciseman, internal revenue agent, tax collector, taxman

   someone who collects taxes for the government

   taxer

   a bureaucrat who levies taxes

   lister

   assessor who makes out the tax lists

   Pilate, Pontius Pilate

   the Roman procurator of Judea who ordered that Jesus be crucified (died in AD 36)

   type of:

   functionary, official

   a worker who holds or is invested with an office