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Definitions

functionary

[fuhngk-shuh-ner-ee] / ˈfʌŋk ʃəˌnɛr i /


NOUN
bureaucrat
Synonyms




Example Sentences

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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

Fred Specktor, in his son’s eyes, isn’t a mere functionary but a man who tried to retain the elements of agenting that felt like making art — negotiation, persuasion.

From Los Angeles Times Apr. 17, 2025

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

Its cast includes the bickering members of a Sri Lankan hotel cleaner’s family, insecure American freshmen, dead-end third-tier college professors and their highflying Ivy League counterparts and dispirited university functionaries.

From The Wall Street Journal Sep. 2, 2026

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

The most important people in the country all along were the rule-followers—corporate attorneys, regional judges, visa-processing functionaries, tax assessors, customs officials, food and drug regulators.

From Slate Sep. 19, 2025

That so many corrupt functionaries and cartel capos ultimately face responsibility in the United States — and not in Mexico — underscores a fundamental weakness of the Mexican justice system, observers say.

From Los Angeles Times Jul. 7, 2025

We do have something in common: both of us are supposed to be invisible, both of us are functionaries.

From "The Handmaid's Tale" by Margaret Atwood




Vocabulary lists containing functionary


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