apparatchik

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Cuba’s government is still dominated by Raúl Castro, 94 years old, the younger brother of Fidel, while President Miguel Díaz-Canel, 65, an unpopular apparatchik, runs day-to-day affairs.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 22, 2026

Like Ben Houchen on Teesside, Andy Street had campaigned as his own man, not a party apparatchik.

From BBC • May 4, 2024

Foreign minister since 2004, he is not considered part of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s inner circle, and is sometimes dismissed by Kremlin scholars as more an apparatchik and mouthpiece than a policymaker.

From Washington Post • May 19, 2022

The governor, Rafael Lacava, is a new breed of apparatchik in Venezuela’s governing Socialist Party: younger, more cosmopolitan and more willing to ditch ideology for practical measures that improve people’s lives.

From New York Times • Mar. 2, 2022

Park said he lost his position as head of taekwondo training in Pyongyang in 2002, after squabbling with a midlevel apparatchik who apparently snitched on him to higher-ups in the government.

From "Escape from Camp 14: One Man's Remarkable Odyssey from North Korea to Freedom in the West" by Blaine Harden