variants
also apparatchiki
as in minions
disapproving
a very loyal member of an organization (such as a company or political party) who always obeys orders
party apparatchiks
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of apparatchiks
Xi’s brand of resentful nationalism, meanwhile, comes with a strong anti-American streak, and security apparatchiks see CIA spies everywhere.
—
Andy Browne, semafor.com, 28 Apr. 2026
The group ventriloquized the voices of authority—parents, school principals, cops, military officers, judges, politicians, newscasters, Soviet apparatchiks—and turned them into expressions of mass insanity.
—Andrew Katzenstein, The New York Review of Books, 19 Mar. 2026
This agitprop is vomited out 24/7 by Democrat media apparatchiks who were also unerringly described by Orwell in his novel 1984.
—Howie Carr, Boston Herald, 11 Oct. 2025
Andy Browne, semafor.com, 28 Apr. 2026
The group ventriloquized the voices of authority—parents, school principals, cops, military officers, judges, politicians, newscasters, Soviet apparatchiks—and turned them into expressions of mass insanity.
—Andrew Katzenstein, The New York Review of Books, 19 Mar. 2026
This agitprop is vomited out 24/7 by Democrat media apparatchiks who were also unerringly described by Orwell in his novel 1984.
—Howie Carr, Boston Herald, 11 Oct. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for apparatchiks
Noun
-
There’s a steadiness to Tung/Wonder Woman that stands out for its quiet authority in a frequently goofy landscape peppered with poisonous robes and finger-eating minions.—
Sarah Shachat,
IndieWire,
24 Apr. 2026
-
Nobody wanted to go there — well, except the oil and gas companies aching to root around for black gold, and their most loyal minions in high places.—
Orlando Sentinel Editorial Board,
The Orlando Sentinel,
8 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
Nataliia had gone to the bus station, where soldiers were spraying foam to contain the nuclear fallout, and to the hospital, where men in white coats were unloading victims on stretchers from the backs of ambulances.—
Lizzie Johnson,
New Yorker,
25 Apr. 2026
-
Kozak said workers slept on floors and desks, with Russian soldiers occupying key areas.—
Hanna Arhirova,
Los Angeles Times,
25 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
He’d been struck that the Milwaukee branch of the adherents to his cause were forever boasting about their superior sanitation systems.—
The Editorial Board,
Chicago Tribune,
19 Apr. 2026
-
TikTok obsessives, wellness-culture adherents, and misinformation junkies all end up in need of care.—
David Fear,
Rolling Stone,
17 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Apparatchiks.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/apparatchiks. Accessed 2 May. 2026.
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