paper-pusher
Noun: A person, typically a clerk or low-level bureaucrat, whose job primarily involves performing routine administrative or clerical tasks, especially dealing with documents and forms. The term often carries a connotation of being unproductive, overly focused on bureaucratic procedures, or engaged in mundane office work.
The term "paper-pusher" is used to describe someone whose role is perceived as consisting mainly of administrative paperwork. It is often used in a slightly derogatory or dismissive way to imply the work is trivial, bureaucratic, or lacks real-world impact. * He felt like a mere paper-pusher in the large government agency, never seeing the results of his work. * Don't ask me; I'm just a paper-pusher. You need to speak to a manager. * The new software aims to reduce the number of paper-pushers needed in the department.
- As a collective: The term can be used collectively to refer to bureaucratic systems or cultures.
- The project was delayed by the army of paper-pushers downtown.
- Paper-pushing (noun): The activity or work of a paper-pusher.
- His day was filled with mindless paper-pushing.
- Clerk
- Bureaucrat
- Desk jockey (informal)
- Administrator (neutral)
- Functionary
- Pen-pusher (chiefly British)
- Decision-maker
- Innovator
- Doer
- Field agent
- Pushing paper: The act of doing bureaucratic paperwork.
- He spent the afternoon pushing paper instead of working on the creative proposal.
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a clerk or bureaucrat who does paperwork
