Dictionary

apparatchik en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /æpəˈɹæt͡ʃɪk/ (US)
• (Southern-England) audio
• /ɑːpəˈɹɑːt͡ʃɪk/ (UK)

Etymology

From Russian аппара́тчик (apparátčik, “operator, apparatchik”), from аппара́т (apparát, “apparat, apparatus (of state)”) + suffix -чик (-čik).

Meanings

1. (historical) A member of the Soviet apparat; a Communist bureaucrat or agent.
   • In these dire conditions the ambitious Serbo-Croatian Communist Party apparatchik Slobodan Milošević played the national card in Kosovo. 2007, Elizabeth Roberts, Realm of the Black Mountain: A History of Montenegro, Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OL, page 34:
   • Whether conservatively toeing their Marx or boldly advocating such heretical Western-style reforms as the primacy of profits, every important planner, apparatchik and economist in Russia is caught up in Communism's greatest debate since Stalin set backward Russia on its cruel-but successful-forced march into the 20th century industrial world. 1965 February 12, “Russia: Borrowing from the Capitalists”, in Time, volume 85, →ISSN, archived from the original on 10 Mar 2009:
2. (broadly) A blindly loyal bureaucrat.
   • Mr. Gonzales came across as a dull-witted apparatchik incapable of running one of the most important departments in the executive branch. […] He delegated responsibility for purging their ranks to an inexperienced and incompetent assistant who, if that’s possible, was even more of a plodding apparatchik. 2007 April 20, “Gonzales v. Gonzales”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:
   • He's so outspoken, so little the Labour apparatchik, that Prime Minister Brown decides he can't send this voluble critic of Iraq invasion to sit at a UN occasion alongside George W Bush. 2011 February 27, Peter Preston, “The Unfinished Global Revolution by Mark Malloch Brown – review”, in The Observer, →ISSN:
   • “Does France, a founder member of the EU, really want to be the country that sends the biggest battalion of far-right apparatchiks to the European parliament?” [Gabriel] Attal asked. 2024 June 7, Angelique Chrisafis, quoting Gabriel Attal, “‘You can feel a shift’: will the French be lured by Le Pen?”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:

Forms

Translations (35)

is kerfiskommi (member of a Communist apparat) · fr apparatchik (member of a Communist apparat) · pl aparatczyk (blindly loyal bureaucrat) · fr apparatchik (blindly loyal bureaucrat) · is kerfiskona (blindly loyal bureaucrat) · sv apparattjik (member of a Communist apparat) · sv partifunktionär (member of a Communist apparat) · is kerfiskarl (blindly loyal bureaucrat) · lt aparatčikas (member of a Communist apparat) · de Apparatschik (member of a Communist apparat) · pt aparatchik (member of a Communist apparat) · ru чину́ша (blindly loyal bureaucrat) · no apparatsjik (member of a Communist apparat) · ru аппара́тчик (member of a Communist apparat) · cmn 共党官员 (member of a Communist apparat) · sh апаратчик (member of a Communist apparat) · ja アパラチク (member of a Communist apparat) · sv apparatjik (member of a Communist apparat) · ro nomenclaturist (member of a Communist apparat) · ru аппара́тчица (member of a Communist apparat) · cmn 党棍 (blindly loyal bureaucrat) · ru аппара́тчик (blindly loyal bureaucrat) · el απαράτσικ (member of a Communist apparat) · it apparatcik (member of a Communist apparat) · ja 党官僚 (member of a Communist apparat) · cmn 官僚 (blindly loyal bureaucrat) · pt apparatchik (member of a Communist apparat) · nl apparatsjik (member of a Communist apparat) · it apparatčik (member of a Communist apparat) · pl aparatczyk (member of a Communist apparat) · fi apparatsikki (member of a Communist apparat) · ru функционе́р (blindly loyal bureaucrat) · sh aparàtčik (member of a Communist apparat) · yi אַפּאַראַטשיק (member of a Communist apparat) · es apparatchik (member of a Communist apparat)