Definition

1. Adjective:

   • Bureaucratic: Characterized by excessive administration, rigid adherence to rules and procedures, and a focus on formal authority over practical results or public needs.
   • Red-tape: Describes a system or style that is overly complicated by official rules, causing delay and inefficiency.

2. Noun:

   • Bureaucrat: An official who works in a bureaucracy, especially one who is overly concerned with procedural power and formalities.

Usage Examples

• Adjective:

  • Phong cách lãnh đạo của ông ấy rất quan liêu. (His leadership style is very bureaucratic.)
  • Thủ tục quan liêu khiến mọi việc chậm trễ. (Bureaucratic procedures cause delays in everything.)

• Noun:

  • Những quan liêu đó không hiểu gì về thực tế. (Those bureaucrats understand nothing about reality.)

Advanced Usage

• "chủ nghĩa quan liêu": Bureaucratism; an over-reliance on bureaucracy as a system or ideology.

  • Chủ nghĩa quan liêu đang kìm hãm sự sáng tạo. (Bureaucratism is stifling creativity.)

• "tác phong quan liêu": Bureaucratic style/work style.

  • Anh ta bị phê bình vì tác phong quan liêu. (He was criticized for his bureaucratic work style.)

Variants and Related Words

• Quan lại (n): Mandarins; historical term for officials in feudal systems. While related, "quan liêu" is a modern term focusing on systemic inefficiency.
• Bộ máy quan liêu (n): Bureaucratic apparatus/machine.
  • Bộ máy quan liêu cần được cải cách. (The bureaucratic apparatus needs reform.)

Synonyms

• Bureaucratic: Administrative, official, procedural.
• Red-tape: Inflexible, rigid, formalistic.

Related Idioms

• "Ngồi bàn giấy": To be a desk jockey; to work in an office detached from practical realities. This idiom captures the spirit of being "quan liêu."
  • Những kẻ chỉ biết ngồi bàn giấy đưa ra các quyết định sai lầm. (Those who are just desk jockeys make wrong decisions.)