Today's Word "apparatchik"
Member of the bureaucracy
on
Published in Vocabulary
apparatchik \uh-pah-RAH-chik\ (noun) - Member of the (Soviet) bureaucracy; now extended to apply to any inflexible organisation man, particularly in a political party.
"Fed up with the usual assortment of apparatchiks and yes-men he was typically faced with, Mel decided to search outside of the regular pool in an attempt to find an assistant who would actually have new, useful ideas for his department."
From Russian apparat (apparatus, the government machine or structure) + chik (agent). Apparatchik is always used pejoratively. It suggests a bureaucrat who willingly follows and implements the party line, either in a spirit of blind obedience or one of cynical ambition.
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