bureaucracy

== English == === Alternative forms === bureaucratie bureau-ocracy (dated) burocracy (US) === Etymology === From bureau +‎ -cracy, from French bureaucratie, coined by Jean Claude Marie Vincent de Gournay from bureau (“office”) + -cratie (“rule of”). === Pronunciation === (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /bjʊəˈɹɒk.ɹə.si/ (General American, dialects of Canada) IPA(key): /bjʊˈɹɑ.kɹə.si/, /bjɝɹɑ.kɹə.si/ (Canada, dialects of the US) IPA(key): /bjʊˈɹɒ.kɹə.si/, /bjɝɹɒ.kɹə.si/ (General Australian) IPA(key): /bjʊəˈɹɔk.ɹə si/ (New Zealand) IPA(key): /bjʊəˈɹɒk.ɹə.si/, [bjʊəˈɹɔ̟k.ɹə.si] Rhymes: -ɒkɹəsi === Noun === bureaucracy (countable and uncountable, plural bureaucracies) Government by bureaus or their administrators or officers. (business, organizational theory) A system of administration based upon organisation into bureaus, division of labour, a hierarchy of authority, etc., designed to dispose of a large body of work in a routine manner. The body of officers and administrators, especially of a government. (chiefly derogatory) Excessive red tape and routine in any administration, body or behaviour. ==== Synonyms ==== (rule through excessive regulation): papyrocracy ==== Derived terms ==== ==== Translations ==== === See also === adhocracy === Further reading === Raymond Williams (1983), “Bureaucracy”, in Keywords: A Vocabulary of Culture and Society, revised American edition, New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press, published 1985, →ISBN, page 49 “bureaucracy”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.