bureaucracy








noun, plural bu·reauc·ra·cies.

  1. government by many bureaus, administrators, and petty officials.
  2. the body of officials and administrators, especially of a government or government department.
  3. excessive multiplication of, and concentration of power in, administrative bureaus or administrators.
  4. administration characterized by excessive red tape and routine.

noun plural -cies

  1. a system of administration based upon organization into bureaus, division of labour, a hierarchy of authority, etc: designed to dispose of a large body of work in a routine manner
  2. government by such a system
  3. government or other officials collectively
  4. any administration in which action is impeded by unnecessary official procedures and red tape
n.

1818, from French bureaucratie, coined by French economist Jean Claude Marie Vincent de Gournay (1712-1759) on model of democratie, aristocratie, from bureau “office,” literally “desk” (see bureau) + Greek suffix -kratia denoting “power of” (see -cracy).

That vast net-work of administrative tyranny … that system of bureaucracy, which leaves no free agent in all France, except for the man at Paris who pulls the wires. [J.S. Mill, “Westminster Review” XXVIII, 1837]


bureaucrat, &c. The formation is so barbarous that all attempt at self-respect in pronunciation may perhaps as well be abandoned. [Fowler]

A formal, hierarchical organization with many levels in which tasks, responsibilities, and authority are delegated among individuals, offices, or departments, held together by a central administration. According to many sociologists and anthropologists, the development of bureaucratic organizations is necessary for the emergence of any modern civilization. (See Max Weber.)

57 queries 0.617