BUREAUCRACY

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does bureaucracy mean? 

• BUREAUCRACY (noun)
  The noun BUREAUCRACY has 3 senses:

1. nonelective government officials

2. a government that is administered primarily by bureaus that are staffed with nonelective officials

3. any organization in which action is obstructed by insistence on unnecessary procedures and red tape

  Familiarity information: BUREAUCRACY used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• BUREAUCRACY (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Nonelective government officials

Classified under:

Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects

Synonyms:

bureaucracy; bureaucratism

Hypernyms ("bureaucracy" is a kind of...):

government officials; officialdom (people elected or appointed to administer a government)

Meronyms (members of "bureaucracy"):

civil service (government workers; usually hired on the basis of competitive examinations)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "bureaucracy"):

Pentagon (the United States military establishment)

Derivation:

bureaucratic (of or relating to or resembling a bureaucrat or bureaucracy)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A government that is administered primarily by bureaus that are staffed with nonelective officials

Classified under:

Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects

Hypernyms ("bureaucracy" is a kind of...):

authorities; government; regime (the organization that is the governing authority of a political unit)

Derivation:

bureaucratic (of or relating to or resembling a bureaucrat or bureaucracy)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Any organization in which action is obstructed by insistence on unnecessary procedures and red tape

Classified under:

Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects

Hypernyms ("bureaucracy" is a kind of...):

organisation; organization (a group of people who work together)

Derivation:

bureaucratic (of or relating to or resembling a bureaucrat or bureaucracy)