burocracy

Alternative forms

• bureaucracy

Etymology

From French bureaucratie, coined by Jean Claude Marie Vincent de Gournay (died 1759) from bureau (“office”) + -cratie (“rule of”), equivalent to buro +‎ -cracy.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /bjʊəˈɹɒkɹəsi/
• (US) IPA^(key): /bjʊˈɹɑːkɹəsi/

Noun

burocracy (plural bureaucracies)

1. Structure and regulations in place to control activity. Usually in large organizations and government operations.
   • 1963, Henry Louis Mencken, The American language: an inquiry into the development of English in the United States.‎, Digitized edition, published 2009, page 491:

     … 1962 Style Book, p63, specifies the following: aging, altho, ameba, analog, apolog, burocracy, burocratic, …

   • 2009, Joan Cabestany, Francisco Sandoval, Alberto Prieto, Bio-Inspired Systems: Computational and Ambient Intelligence‎, Springer, →ISBN, page 525:

     In this way, inter-unit relationships can be specified in order to define at communication level some well-known agent organizations model such as hierachies, burocracies, federations, etc.

   • 2010, Bert Hedeman, Gabor Vis van Heemst, Hans Fredriksz, Project Manaagement Based on Principle2, 2009‎, Van Haren Publishing, →ISBN, page 173:

     Burocracy is a choice!

   • 2011, Geoff Turner, Proceedings of the 3rd European Conference on on Intellectual Capital‎, Academic Conferences Limited, →ISBN, page 190:

     … namely the non human structure that enables a country generate future benefits: business structure, burocracy, …

   • 2012, Armando P Ribas, Rule of Law: The Path to Freedom‎, Stockcero, →ISBN, page 107:

     But still more, even Marx himself in his criticism of Hegel's Theory of the State recognized the actual behavior of burocracy in contradiction …