- [uncountable] (often disapproving) the system of official rules and ways of doing things that a government or an organization has, especially when these seem to be too complicated
- unnecessary/excessive bureaucracy
- We need to reduce paperwork and bureaucracy in the company.
Extra ExamplesTopics Politicsc1- The organization has promised to eliminate unnecessary bureaucracy.
- Family doctors have suffered from increasing bureaucracy.
- Small businesses fear that complying with the code will lead to excessive bureaucracy and costs.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- cumbersome
- excessive
- unnecessary
- …
- cut
- eliminate
- reduce
- …
- [uncountable, countable] a system of government in which there are a large number of state officials who are not elected; a country with such a system
- the power of the state bureaucracy
- We are living in a modern bureaucracy.
Extra ExamplesTopics Politicsc1- The local bureaucracy was not pleased by the new proposals.
- Many people believed that the state bureaucracy was corrupt.
- Many of these states have large public bureaucracies of civil servants.
- He had considerable influence over the top levels of the vast bureaucracy.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- huge
- large
- massive
- …
Word Originearly 19th cent.: from French bureaucratie, from bureau, originally ‘baize’ (used to cover writing desks), from Old French burel, probably from bure ‘dark brown’, based on Greek purros ‘red’.
Check pronunciation:
bureaucracy