functionary
A person employed as an official in a bureaucracy who holds limited authority and…A person employed as an official in a bureaucracy (usually corporate or governmental) who holds limited authority and primarily serves to carry out a simple function for which discretion is minimal or not required.
» Tom is a mere functionary, not a powerful person by any means.
Meaning
2 sensesA person employed as an official in a bureaucracy (usually corporate or governmental) who holds limited authority and primarily serves to carry out a simple function for which discretion is minimal or not required.
Near-synonyms: bureaucrat; official; officer; administrator; apparatchik
Funktionär, Funktionärin
чино́вникčinóvnik, чино́вницаčinóvnica, должностно́е лицо́dolžnostnóje licó
функціоне́рfunkcionér, функціоне́ркаfunkcionérka
Such a person who is petty, pedantic, short-sighted, uncaring, or counterproductive; sometimes also with implication of being amoral or corrupt.
Near-synonyms: bureaucrat, apparatchik; paper-pusher; bean counter
- a worker who holds or is invested with an office
Examples
5 sentencesTom is a mere functionary, not a powerful person by any means.
Soviet functionaries who didn't toe the party line were at risk of ostracism and imprisonment.
A functionary escorted us upstairs to Mr. Jackson's office.
Tom is a functionary working in a cubicle at the Department of Veterans' Affairs.
The view of Adolf Eichmann as a mere functionary ignores his lifelong hatred of Jews and his central role in the Holocaust.
Translations
8 languagesBy meaning 1
By meaning 1
By meaning 1
Origin
From French fonctionnaire; by surface analysis, function + -ary.From French fonctionnaire; by surface analysis, function + -ary.
Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Forms
plural: functionaries| Singular | functionary |
|---|---|
| Plural | functionaries |
regular
Synonyms
7 synonyms- a worker who holds or is invested with an office:official