functionary

Entertaining down to the last minute, the Bastille Opera finally opened its season with a sad-faced functionary who stepped in front of the curtain to tell us that the “Simone Boccanegra” baritone was indisposed.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 7, 2026

Because he was an obscure functionary, the lawmaker assumed that he would be an Aaron, Moses’ brother and supporter.

From Salon ● Oct. 12, 2025

One of my professors, Harry Wexler, had been a young functionary under the midcentury mayor-for-life Dick Lee.

From Slate ● Sep. 21, 2025

Traditionally, the state superintendent has acted as more of a functionary, allocating funding and serving as a repository for student data.

From Seattle Times ● May 24, 2024

Finally, we were escorted down the hall by a nervous little functionary, who kept checking his watch and motioning for us to hurry along.

From "In the Time of the Butterflies" by Julia Alvarez

Vladimir Putin’s inner circle and other Kremlin functionaries live in highly-secure estates near the Rublyovo-Uspenskoye Highway west of Moscow, a suburban community dubbed “Moscow Beverly Hills.”

From Salon ● Mar. 24, 2026

He, not his faithful functionaries, needs to take the blame.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 24, 2025

A few questioned whether the Wikimedia Foundation was taking threats seriously enough when they were raised by the site’s volunteer administrators and functionaries.

From Slate ● Oct. 22, 2025

After the consumer safety and environmental movements in the 1960s, a backlash emerged from businesses, where critics argued that government functionaries who were not accountable to voters were issuing regulations whose costs outweighed their benefits.

From New York Times ● Jan. 17, 2024

He was recruited to do this job, not by Kyril Montana, but rather by some other higher-up undercover police functionaries who had decided Montana’s approach to the whole affair was much too conservative.

From "The Milagro Beanfield War" by John Nichols