Functionary

Definitions

1. 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.
2. Such a person who is petty, pedantic, short-sighted, uncaring, or counterproductive; sometimes also with implication of being amoral or corrupt.

Equivalents

Examples

“Near-synonyms: bureaucrat; official; officer; administrator; apparatchik”

“Consciences are for politicians, Bernard! We are humble functionaries whose duty it is to implement the commands of our democratically elected representatives.”

“Near-synonyms: bureaucrat, apparatchik; paper-pusher; bean counter”

CEFR level