What does "bureaucratic" mean?

Of or pertaining to bureaucracy or the actions of bureaucrats.

How do you pronounce "bureaucratic"?

Pronounced //ˌbjʊəɹəˈkɹætɪk//.

Bureaucratic

Q: What is a synonym for "bureaucratic"?

Common synonyms include: administrative, absolute, aristocratic, authoritarian, autocratic, autonomous.

//ˌbjʊəɹəˈkɹætɪk// adj

adj ·Uncommon ·College level

Definitions

Adjective

1
Of or pertaining to bureaucracy or the actions of bureaucrats.
"[T. E.] Lawrence said that in the end he felt himself to be fighting not for the imperial British but for the rebellious Arabs. All too often he conflicted with British bureaucratic fustiness."

Adjective

1
of or relating to or resembling a bureaucrat or bureaucracy wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms

administrative absolute aristocratic authoritarian autocratic autonomous

Example

More examples

"In fact, this is a major means of bureaucratic control."

Etymology

Borrowed from French bureaucratique, from bureaucrate (“bureaucrat”) or bureaucratie (“bureaucracy”) + -ique (“-ic”), equivalent to bureaucrat + -ic or bureau + -cratic.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.