Janet Malcolm

The journalistic 'I' is an overreliable narrator, a functionary to whom crucial tasks of narration and argument and tone have been entrusted, an ad hoc creation, like the chorus of Greek tragedy. He is an emblematic figure, an embodiment of the idea of the dispassionate observer of life.

American Writer

Yair Lapid

I think that haredi children should study the core subjects and that their parents must work, and I believe that there are many haredim who think like me and would be glad to discover that someone is fighting the radical functionaries and rabbis who embitter their lives.

Israeli Politician

Arthur Middleton

There is a kind of thinking in the Church that wants to reduce the priest to a mere functionary, a managing director, where administration rather than doctrine and worship are to determine the form of the Church.

American Politician

Rebecca MacKinnon

Negative views of Pakistan expressed by prominent members of the global business community are taken more seriously by government functionaries than are appeals by human rights groups.

American Journalist

Kapil Sibal

Ever since Modi became prime minister, he has given a free rein to his ministers and BJP functionaries to create an environment of communal tension and violence.

Indian Politician

Sanjaya Baru

Civil servants and government functionaries do not write memoirs because they hope to get more government jobs or assignments.

Indian Public Servant

Jose Saramago

It is economic power that determines political power, and governments become the political functionaries of economic power.

Portuguese Writer

Sebastian Pinera

I grew up middle class. My father was a public functionary who didn't leave an inheritance, just debts.

Chilean Statesman

Jupp Heynckes

After 50 years as a player and a coach, I will not become a functionary. That's not my world.

German Athlete

Ambrose Bierce

Anoint, v.: To grease a king or other great functionary already sufficiently slippery.

Functionary is mostly used in contexts related to government, politics or administration.

Government Context

The word is neutral, without positive or negative connotations, focusing on the role rather than the person.

Neutral Tone

'Functionary' does not just imply clerical work but can involve responsibilities and decision-making.

Not Just Clerical

 for more than 30 years. He was a scrupulous functionary — in his past, he killed two policemen not far away from here — who in fact personalized the Stasi. But what was so exceptional about the Stasi?