functionary
Syllables: func·tion·ary/ˈfʌŋ(k).ʃn̩.(ə)ri/US/ˈfʌŋ(k).ʃəˌnɛ.ri/
functionary noun: 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.
Noun
functionary (plural functionaries)
- 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
- Consciences are for politicians, Bernard! We are humble functionaries whose duty it is to implement the commands of our democratically elected representatives.1987 December 10, Antony Jay, Jonathan Lynn, “Official Secrets (Yes, Prime Minister)”, in Yes, Prime Minister, season 2, episode 2, spoken by Humphrey Appleby (Nigel Hawthorne)
- Synonyms:
- bureaucrat, official, officer, administrator, apparatchik
- 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
- Synonyms:
- bureaucrat, apparatchik, paper-pusher, bean counter
functionary meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Malayalam
functionary in Hindi
- functionary
- अधिकारी adhikārī
functionary in Tamil
- அலுவலர், பணித்துறை மேலாளர்
functionary in Urdu
- functionary
- ادھکاری adhikārī
functionary in Malayalam
- official, office-holder, public servant
- അധികൃതൻ, ഭാരവാഹി, ഭാരവാഹിനി, ചുമതലക്കാരൻ, അധികാരി, നിയോഗി
More languagesFewer languages
- functionary in Indonesian
- fungsionaris
Synonyms of functionary
Forms of functionary
| plural | functionaries |
|---|
Origin of functionary
From French fonctionnaire; by surface analysis, function + -ary.
Questions about functionary
- What does functionary mean?
- Functionary means 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.
- What is functionary in Hindi?
- Functionary in Hindi is अधिकारी (adhikārī). See Functionary meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is functionary?
- Functionary is a noun.
- How do you pronounce functionary?
- Functionary is pronounced /ˈfʌŋ(k).ʃn̩.(ə)ri/ (UK).
- What is the plural of functionary?
- The plural of functionary is functionaries.
Words near functionary in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: functionary (page history and authors); अधिकारी (Hindi) (page history and authors); functionary (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ادھکاری (Urdu) (page history and authors); functionary (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license). 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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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Pvanp7-functionary.wav.
Cite this entry: “functionary.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/functionary. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.