Words / C1

by-oor-ROKR-uh-see/bjʊəˈrɒkrəsi/

Bureaucracy is the system of offices, forms, and official rules — usually with a sigh: slow, complicated, impersonal. Administration is more neutral; red tape is the everyday complaint. A bureaucrat is the official; bureaucratic is the adjective (bureaucratic delay). Use it for systems, not for one rude receptionist. In careful writing it need not be an insult, but readers often hear one.

Meaning

A system of official rules and offices, often slow and complicated.

Examples

• “Visa applications involve a lot of bureaucracy.”
• “Housing applications disappeared into bureaucracy for months.”
• “The reform was meant to cut bureaucracy, not add another form.”

Good to know

Often critical. Everyday: red tape. Adjective: bureaucratic. Neutral cousin: administration.

Near in meaning

red tape

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