bureaucracy

Definitions

bureau (writing desk, office) + -cracy (rule) = "rule by the offices." Where democracy is rule by the people, bureaucracy is rule by the desks — the network of officials, clerks, and paperwork that actually administers a state or organization.

Why It Means This

Coined in 18th-century France, bureaucracy was half a joke from the start. After rule by kings and rule by the people, here was a third kind of power: rule by no one in particular — just the faceless apparatus of offices and procedures. That mocking edge never left. Today bureaucracy rarely sounds neutral; it carries the smell of slow lines, stamped forms, and rules followed for their own sake.

Common Collocations

• 1.government bureaucracy政府官僚体制
• 2.navigate bureaucracy应对官僚机构
• 3.cut bureaucracy精简官僚
• 4.red tape and bureaucracy繁文缛节

Example Sentences

• 1.

  Getting a permit means fighting your way through endless bureaucracy.

• 2.

  The reform aimed to cut bureaucracy and speed up approvals.

• 3.

  A large bureaucracy can make even simple decisions painfully slow.