Apparatchik
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 A member of the Soviet apparat; a Communist bureaucrat or agent. historical
"Whether conservatively toeing their Marx or boldly advocating such heretical Western-style reforms as the primacy of profits, every important planner, apparatchik and economist in Russia is caught up in Communism's greatest debate since Stalin set backward Russia on its cruel-but successful-forced march into the 20th century industrial world."
- 2 a communist who was a member of the administrative system of a communist party wordnet
- 3 A blindly loyal bureaucrat. broadly
"Mr. Gonzales came across as a dull-witted apparatchik incapable of running one of the most important departments in the executive branch. […] He delegated responsibility for purging their ranks to an inexperienced and incompetent assistant who, if that’s possible, was even more of a plodding apparatchik."
- 4 a humorous but derogatory term for an official of a large organization (especially a political organization) wordnet
Synonyms
All synonymsExample
More examples"Although he denied the charges, the apparatchik was put on trial."
Etymology
From Russian аппара́тчик (apparátčik, “operator, apparatchik”), from аппара́т (apparát, “apparat, apparatus (of state)”) + suffix -чик (-čik).
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.