Thesaurus results for FUNCTIONARIES

functionaries

noun

plural of functionary

as in officials

a person who holds a public office spoke to high-ranking functionaries at the embassy in the hopes that they could help

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

as in bureaucrats

a worker in a government agency the faceless functionaries at the Internal Revenue Service

Synonyms & Similar Words

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of functionaries Both Washington and Mexico City have launched crackdowns against a complex web of unscrupulous functionaries, front companies and document fraudsters, among others. — Foreign Correspondent, Los Angeles Times, 3 Aug. 2026 To the extent that their fellow-citizens refer to them at all, our government functionaries are perceived not as active agents of change but as inert, self-protecting obstructions. — The New Yorker, New Yorker, 4 July 2026 More than funding, though, is needed transparency by IDNR functionaries with marina boaters and Winthrop Harbor officials. — Charles Selle, Chicago Tribune, 26 Jan. 2026 Their prestige suffers because it is conflated in the public’s mind with long lines at the DMV, fastidious building inspectors, parking tickets—the stuff of local functionaries. — Franklin Foer, The Atlantic, 11 Jan. 2026 Bigelow’s sympathetic eye for her functionaries risks the film being misread as an argument for more robust military funding. — Nicholas Quah, Vulture, 24 Oct. 2025 Evil is aided and abetted by the banality of institutions and their functionaries. — Literary Hub, 17 Oct. 2025 Since then, there have been many more arrests—especially of regional functionaries at various levels. — Andrei Kolesnikov, Foreign Affairs, 8 Sep. 2025 But this newsletter is more focused on how Trump and his fawning functionaries speak about and for him. — Chris Brennan, USA Today, 29 Aug. 2025

Recent Examples of Synonyms for functionaries

Noun

The claim that Ukraine has halted its strikes on energy sites could not be independently verified, but neither Russian officials nor media have reported Ukrainian attacks on oil refineries since the energy truce was announced.

— HANNA ARHIROVA, Arkansas Online, 14 Oct. 2026
The Houthis bombed the corporate HQ of Saudi Aramco in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, on Tuesday, officials said.

— Jim Edwards, Fortune, 14 Oct. 2026

Definition of officials

Noun

Democratic politicians, bureaucrats and labor leaders, once rabble-rousers like Bass who nowadays seem to exist mostly to keep their sinecure, have labored mightily to convince unbelieving voters that Bass deserves another shot.

— Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 14 Oct. 2026
Half of them want to hand health care over to government bureaucrats, the other half to corporate bureaucrats.

— WCCO Staff, CBS News, 13 Oct. 2026

Definition of bureaucrats

Noun

Others spoke of police chokeholds and the grainy footage that showed officers striking King with batons.

— David Zahniser, Los Angeles Times, 16 Oct. 2026
Two off-duty California State Parks officers rescued a woman from a burning vehicle Friday morning after a rollover off Highway 70 in Sutter County, officials said.

— Cecilio Padilla, CBS News, 16 Oct. 2026

Definition of officers

Noun

The program—announced at the Ai Everything conference in the capital–will give government employees hands-on experience with tools such as ChatGPT, Codex, and Microsoft 365 Copilot.

— Melissa Hancock, Fortune, 14 Oct. 2026
Keith David, Macon Blair, Killer Mike, Cody Lightning, Siena East, and Michael Hitchcock all return as some of Lee’s Tulsa-area buddies, employees, and resentful acquaintances.

— Kathryn VanArendonk, Vulture, 14 Oct. 2026

Definition of employees

Noun

Williams — who lost reelection to current Secretary of State Jena Griswold in 2018 — said Griswold’s office bears some responsibility for the error and should have reached out to county clerks about the district boundary changes.

— Katie Langford, Denver Post, 9 Oct. 2026
The election inspectors must disclose their political affiliation to help the clerks ensure balanced staffing – claiming independent or unaffiliated is not an option for these roles.

— Paula Wethington, CBS News, 8 Oct. 2026

Definition of clerks

Noun

As part of orchestrating this project, Simon was also involved in securing visas for the various international performers, encountering in the process the uneven access to travel for cultural workers across classes, nationalities, and milieus.

— Stephanie Wambugu, Vulture, 12 Oct. 2026
The circumstances and cultural details may vary, but these unequal power dynamics between families and their domestic workers exist everywhere, to different degrees.

— Annika Pham, Variety, 12 Oct. 2026