bureaucracies

Meanings

1. 1nouncountable

   Large organizations, especially in government, run by officials who follow fixed rules and procedures.

   Grammar: This is the plural; use 'a bureaucracy' for one organization and 'bureaucracies' for several.

   Patterns

   • government bureaucracies
   • large bureaucracies
   • work in a bureaucracy

   Government bureaucracies often take months to approve a simple permit.

   Large bureaucracies tend to grow more rules over time.

   Reforming state bureaucracies is a slow and difficult process.

2. 2noununcountabledisapproving

   The system of official rules and procedures that makes organizations slow and difficult to deal with.

   Grammar: Used without 'a' or a plural when talking about the system in general.

   Patterns

   • too much bureaucracy
   • cut bureaucracy
   • bureaucracy and red tape

   Small businesses complain that bureaucracy makes hiring harder.

   We need less bureaucracy and faster decisions.

   The new manager promised to cut bureaucracy in the department.

3. 3nouncountable

   A group of officials who run an organization by strict rules rather than personal judgment.

   Grammar: Refers to the people or body itself, not the system; the plural is 'bureaucracies'.

   Patterns

   • a powerful bureaucracy
   • the party bureaucracy

   A powerful bureaucracy controls every stage of the application.

   The party bureaucracy resisted any change to the rules.

   She spent her career inside the federal bureaucracy.

Word forms

Common combinations

government bureaucracy

Government bureaucracy delays many building projects.

cut bureaucracy

The company cut bureaucracy to speed up approvals.

bureaucracy and red tape

Farmers blame bureaucracy and red tape for lost income.

a layer of bureaucracy

They added another layer of bureaucracy instead of solving the problem.

bloated bureaucracy

Critics say the agency is a bloated bureaucracy.

Synonyms and how they differ

administration

Neutral word for the people who manage an organization; it does not carry the negative feel that 'bureaucracy' often has.

red tape

Focuses on annoying official rules and paperwork rather than the organization or its officials.

officialdom

A slightly literary word for officials as a group; it sounds more distant and abstract than 'bureaucracy'.

Word family

bureaucrat noun

An official who works in a bureaucracy.

bureaucratic adjective

Describing rules or systems that are slow and full of procedures.

bureaucratically adverb

In a way that follows official rules and procedures.

bureaucratize verb

To organize something with many official rules and departments.

Commonly confused: bureaucracies or democracy?

Practice

Make it your own

Write a sentence using “bureaucracies”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.

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