bureaucracy

Meanings

1. 1nouncountable or uncountable

   A way of running an organization through many appointed officials who follow fixed rules and a chain of command.

   Grammar: Uncountable for the system in general, countable for a particular one: a large bureaucracy.

   Patterns

   • a government bureaucracy
   • the bureaucracy of something

   The country's bureaucracy employs thousands of clerks in dozens of ministries.

   A large university is run by a bureaucracy as well as by teachers.

   Modern states depend on bureaucracy to collect taxes and deliver services.

2. 2noununcountabledisapproving

   Complicated official rules and paperwork that make simple things slow and frustrating to do.

   Grammar: No plural in this sense: too much bureaucracy, not too many bureaucracies.

   Patterns

   • cut through bureaucracy
   • tied up in bureaucracy

   Getting a permit for the small stall meant weeks of bureaucracy.

   Staff complained that the new form only added more bureaucracy.

   She was tired of fighting bureaucracy just to renew her license.

Word forms

Common combinations

government bureaucracy

Starting a business here requires patience with government bureaucracy.

cut through the bureaucracy

A helpful official finally cut through the bureaucracy and signed the form.

bloated bureaucracy

Critics say the agency has become a bloated bureaucracy.

mountain of bureaucracy

Adopting a child meant a mountain of bureaucracy.

red tape and bureaucracy

Red tape and bureaucracy delayed the bridge for years.

reduce bureaucracy

The new manager promised to reduce bureaucracy in the hospital.

Synonyms and how they differ

red tape

Red tape names only the annoying rules and forms, while bureaucracy can also describe the whole system of officials.

officialdom

Officialdom refers to officials as a group and often sounds mocking, whereas bureaucracy is a more neutral term for the system.

administration

Administration is the neutral word for managing an organization and lacks the suggestion of slowness that bureaucracy carries.

Opposites

Word family

bureaucrat noun

an official in a bureaucracy, often seen as rigid

bureaucratic adjective

relating to or typical of a bureaucracy

bureaucratically adverb

in a manner governed by strict rules

bureaucratize verb

to make an organization more bureaucratic

Commonly confused: bureaucracy or democracy?

Practice

Make it your own

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

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