English edit

Etymology edit

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

Pronunciation edit

  • (UK) IPA(key): /apəˈɹatʃɪk/
    • (file)
  • (US) IPA(key): /æpəˈɹæt͡ʃɪk/

Noun edit

apparatchik (plural apparatchiks or apparatchiki)

  1. (historical) A member of the Soviet apparat; a Communist bureaucrat or agent. [from 20th c.]
    • 1965 February 12, “Russia: Borrowing from the Capitalists”, in Time[1], volume 85, →ISSN, archived from the original on 10 March 2009:
      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.
    • 2007, Elizabeth Roberts, Realm of the Black Mountain: A History of Montenegro, Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OL, page 34:
      In these dire conditions the ambitious Serbo-Croatian Communist Party apparatchik Slobodan Milošević played the national card in Kosovo.
  2. A blindly loyal bureaucrat. [from 20th c.]
    • 2007 April 20, “Gonzales v. Gonzales”, in The New York Times[2], →ISSN:
      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.
    • 2011 February 27, Peter Preston, “The Unfinished Global Revolution by Mark Malloch Brown – review”, in The Observer[3], →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.

Translations edit

Further reading edit

French edit

Pronunciation edit

Noun edit

apparatchik m (plural apparatchiks)

  1. apparatchik

Portuguese edit

Alternative forms edit

Noun edit

apparatchik m (plural apparatchiks)

  1. (historical) apparatchik (Communist bureaucrat or agent)