What does "officialdom" mean?

The people elected to government or employed in the civil service.

How do you pronounce "officialdom"?

Pronounced //əˈfɪ.ʃəl.dəm//.

Common synonyms include: administration, authorities, authority, bureaucracy, directorate, establishment.

//əˈfɪ.ʃəl.dəm// noun

noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Noun

1
The people elected to government or employed in the civil service. countable, uncountable
"[Magazine staffer:] In the bag may be the next chief—a wedding to one of officialdom's family will assure certainty."
2
people elected or appointed to administer a government wordnet
3
The state of being official countable, rare, uncountable
"This was largely due to its widespread use in the army and officialdom in the Ottoman Empire."

"[Magazine staffer:] In the bag may be the next chief—a wedding to one of officialdom's family will assure certainty."

From official + -dom.

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