Word.ws English Dictionary

adhocrat

Syllables: ad·hoc·ratUK/adhəˈkɹat/US/ædhəˈkɹæt/

adhocrat noun: one who espouses or practises adhocracy.

Noun

adhocrat (plural adhocrats)

  1. (organizational theory) One who espouses or practises adhocracy.
    • The efficient manager of bureaucracy was to be replaced by a change-responsive ‘adhocrat’ (Toffler, 1970). But […] the 1950s’ tasks of management are not being replaced, but enlarged and complemented; much of the equipment of the industrial manager will remain vital to the firm’s success.Alvin Toffler (1970), Future Shock, New York, N.Y.: Random House, →OCLC
    • There is, thus, in the professional activity of the adhocrat, or the common type of consultant, no delimitative intentionality. In opposition to this orientation, paraeconomy is conceived as a category of confrontal and delimitative thinking.1976, Administration & Society, volume 8, Thousand Oaks, Calif.: SAGE Periodicals Press, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 268

Examples of adhocrat in a sentence

  • [T]he para-economist should not be confused with what Alvin Toffler calls the adhocrat.1981, Alberto Guerreiro Ramos, The New Science of Organizations: A Reconceptualization of the Wealth of Nations, Toronto: University of...
  • The adhocrat is reluctant to tie his/her hands in advance, and prefers to wait and judge each case on its merits.1992, Richard Veryard, Information Modelling: Practical Guidance (BCS Practitioner Series), New York, N.Y.: Prentice Hall, →ISBN, page 171:
  • They hide their work from management who may be too remote from the pulse of the market and new technology. […] Skunks are adhocrats but illegitimate adhocrats.2002, Evert Gummesson, “RM, the Network Organization and the Network Society”, in Total Relationship Marketing, 2nd edition, Oxford...

Forms of adhocrat

pluraladhocrats
alternative formad hocrat
alternative formad-hocrat

Origin of adhocrat

From ad hoc + -crat, by analogy with bureaucrat.

Questions about adhocrat

What does adhocrat mean?
Adhocrat means one who espouses or practises adhocracy.
How do you use adhocrat in a sentence?
[T]he para-economist should not be confused with what Alvin Toffler calls the adhocrat.
What part of speech is adhocrat?
Adhocrat is a noun.
How do you pronounce adhocrat?
Adhocrat is pronounced /adhəˈkɹat/ (UK).
What is the plural of adhocrat?
The plural of adhocrat is adhocrats.

Words near adhocrat in the dictionary

  1. adhockeries
  2. adhockery
  3. adhocness
  4. adhocracies
  5. adhocracy
  6. adhocrat
  7. adhocratic
  8. adhocratical
  9. adhocratically
  10. adhocrats
  11. Adhola

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: adhocrat (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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