functionary

English

Etymology

From French fonctionnaire; by surface analysis, function +‎ -ary.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈfʌŋ(k).ʃn̩.(ə)ri/

• Audio (UK):

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈfʌŋ(k).ʃəˌnɛ.ri/
• Hyphenation: func‧tion‧ary, func‧tio‧na‧ry

Noun

functionary (plural functionaries)

2. 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.

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

   • 1987 December 10, Antony Jay, Jonathan Lynn, “Official Secrets (Yes, Prime Minister)”, in Yes, Minister, season 2, episode 2, spoken by Humphrey Appleby (Nigel Hawthorne):

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

4. 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

Translations

a person employed as an official in a bureaucracy

Armenian: please add this translation if you can Azerbaijani: məmur (az) Bulgarian: функционер (bg) m (funkcioner), длъжностно лице n (dlǎžnostno lice) Catalan: funcionari (ca) m, funcionària (ca) f Chinese: Mandarin: 官員 / 官员 (zh) (guānyuán), 公務員 / 公务员 (zh) (gōngwùyuán) Danish: please add this translation if you can Dutch: functionaris (nl) m Estonian: please add this translation if you can Finnish: virkailija (fi) French: fonctionnaire (fr) m or f Georgian: please add this translation if you can German: Funktionär (de) m, Funktionärin (de) f Greek: λειτουργός (el) m or f (leitourgós) Hungarian: funkcionárius (hu) sg, közhivatalnok (hu) sg, tisztviselő (hu) sg Indonesian: fungsionaris (id) Italian: funzionario (it) m Japanese: 役人 (ja) (やくにん, yakunin), 公務員 (ja) (こうむいん, kōmuin) Kazakh: атқарымпаз (atqarympaz) Macedonian: функционе́р m (funkcionér), слу́жбеник m (slúžbenik) Polish: funkcjonariusz (pl) m, funkcjonariuszka (pl) f Portuguese: please add this translation if you can Romanian: funcționar (ro) m, funcționară (ro) f Russian: чино́вник (ru) m (činóvnik), чино́вница (ru) f (činóvnica), должностно́е лицо́ (ru) n (dolžnostnóje licó), официа́льное лицо́ n (oficiálʹnoje licó), функционе́р (ru) m (funkcionér) Spanish: funcionario (es), funcionaria Swedish: statstjänsteman c, ämbetsman (sv) c Ukrainian: функціоне́р m (funkcionér), функціоне́рка f (funkcionérka)