bureaucracy

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   A system of government or management run through many departments and strict official rules.

   Reforming the country's bureaucracy will take years.

2. 2
   noun

   Complicated official rules and procedures that seem unnecessary and waste time.

   Getting a permit involved endless bureaucracy and paperwork.

3. 3
   noun

   The officials who run a government or large organization.

   The new policy faced resistance from the bureaucracy.

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

Topics

External links

• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary
• Google Images