'Bureaucracy' definitions:
Definition of 'bureaucracy'
From: WordNet
noun
Nonelective government officials [syn: bureaucracy, bureaucratism]
noun
A government that is administered primarily by bureaus that are staffed with nonelective officials
noun
Any organization in which action is obstructed by insistence on unnecessary procedures and red tape
Definition of 'Bureaucracy'
From: GCIDE
- Bureaucracy \Bu*reau"cra*cy\, n. [Bureau + Gr. ? to be strong, to govern, ? strength: cf. F. bureaucratie.]
- 1. A system of carrying on the business of government by means of departments or bureaus, each under the control of a chief, in contradiction to a system in which the officers of government have an associated authority and responsibility; also, government conducted on this system. [1913 Webster]
- 2. Government officials, collectively; -- used especially of nonelected government officials. [1913 Webster +PJC]
Synonyms of 'bureaucracy'
From: Moby Thesaurus
- administration,
- authorities,
- beadledom,
- beat,
- beaten path,
- bumbledom,
- bureaucratism,
- chinoiserie,
- daily grind,
- directorate,
- government,
- grind,
- groove,
- hierarchy,
- higher echelons,
- higher-ups,
- jog trot,
- management,
- ministry,
- official jargon,
- officialdom,
- officialism,
- prelacy,
- red tape,
- red-tapeism,
- red-tapery,
- round,
- routine,
- ruling class,
- ruling classes,
- run,
- rut,
- squirrel cage,
- the administration,
- the authorities,
- the Establishment,
- the ingroup,
- the interests,
- the people upstairs,
- the power elite,
- the power structure,
- the top,
- them,
- they,
- top brass,
- track,
- treadmill,
- well-worn groove