Government officials or administrators who work in large organizations and follow rules and procedures strictly.
From French 'bureaucrate,' combining 'bureau' (office) and the Greek '-crat' (ruler or power). The term emerged in 18th-century France to describe the growing class of administrative officials.
The word 'bureaucrat' was invented to mock government workers, but it stuck around—it perfectly captures how complex societies need systems, even if those systems sometimes frustrate the people living in them.
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