pencil pusher
5
6.0
- noun
- /ˈpɛnsl ˈpʊʃər/
- Offensive
:
burócrata
- After years of hard work, she found herself stuck as a pencil pusher, doing the same mundane tasks every day.
- just a pencil pusher
Examples
-
Someday the pencil-pushers will rise up and overthrow the computer heads, and sanity will return.
Fiction book (1999) -
They are pencil pushers.
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I spoke to a pencil pusher at some government agency I never heard of.
-
Don't ever become a pencil pusher, kid.
-
A pencil pusher who fills out forms for a living probably.
Blog text (26) -
Here's to the pencil-pushers.
-
The executives and pencil pushers dictate what experiences are allowed and financed for the parks we all adore.
Blog text (11) -
He spends most of his day at the office, just a pencil pusher handling paperwork.
-
Many people criticize being a pencil pusher for its repetitive and boring nature.
Synonyms
4
6.5
An office worker who spends most of their time doing forms and paperwork
1
3.7
A person who works at a desk in an office or hotel reception helping visitors
1
5.5
A person who does simple repeated tasks with little skill
A person who does simple office paperwork and little creative work
Antonyms
How Bureaucratic
Surface Forms
Morphology
pencil + pusher
The literal parts 'pencil' and 'pusher' give a clear metaphorical clue—someone who 'pushes pencils'—so learners can often infer it refers to routine clerical writing or paperwork. However, the idiomatic, slightly derogatory nuance and the cultural convention linking 'pushing pencils' to boring administrative work are not fully predictable from the words alone, so it is not completely transparent for a B1 learner.
Etymology
Pencil pusher comes from the image of a person who sits at a desk all day pushing a pencil across paper to fill in boring forms, with pusher showing the repeated, small motion. That's why it means an office worker who only does 'routine' or 'boring' paperwork.