bureaucracy

Universal Words noun (plural bureaucracies) 1 [U] (often disapproving) the system of official rules and ways of doing things that a government or an organization has, especially when these seem to be too complicated: unnecessary / excessive bureaucracy * We need to reduce paperwork and bureaucracy in the company. 2 [U,C] a system of government in which there are a large number of state officials who are not elected; a country with such a system: the power of the state bureaucracy * living in a modern bureaucracy