Definition of BUREAUCRACY

bureaucracy

Meanings

Plural: bureaucracies

Noun

  • nonelective government officials
  • a government that is administered primarily by bureaus that are staffed with nonelective officials
  • any organization in which action is obstructed by insistence on unnecessary procedures and red tape
  • Government by bureaus or their administrators or officers.
  • 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.
  • The body of officers and administrators, especially of a government.
  • Excessive red tape and routine in any administration, body or behaviour.

Origin / Etymology

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

Scrabble Score: 20

bureaucracy is a valid Scrabble (US) TWL word
bureaucracy is a valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
bureaucracy is a valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary

Words With Friends Score: 24

bureaucracy is a valid Words With Friends word