officious

officious
officiously, adv.officiousness, n.
/euh fish"euhs/, adj.
1. objectionably aggressive in offering one's unrequested and unwanted services, help, or advice; meddlesome: an officious person.
2. marked by or proceeding from such forwardness: officious interference.
3. Obs. ready to serve; obliging.
[1555-65; < L officiosus obliging, dutiful, equiv. to offici(um) OFFICE + -osus -OUS]
Syn. 1. interfering, meddling.
Ant. 1. retiring.

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Universalium. 2010.

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  • Officious — Of*fi cious, a. [L. officiosus: cf. F. officieux. See {Office}.] 1. Pertaining to, or being in accordance with, duty. [R.] [1913 Webster] If there were any lie in the case, it could be no more than an officious and venial one. Note on Gen. xxvii …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • officious — (adj.) 1560s, zealous, eager to serve, from L. officiosus dutiful, obliging, from officium duty, service (see OFFICE (Cf. office)). Sense of meddlesome, doing more than is asked or required had emerged by 1600 (in officiously). An officious lie… …   Etymology dictionary

  • officious — index dictatorial, obtrusive Burton s Legal Thesaurus. William C. Burton. 2006 …   Law dictionary

  • officious — meddlesome, intrusive, obtrusive, impertinent Analogous words: meddling, interfering, intermeddling, tampering (see MEDDLE): annoying, vexing, irking, bothering (see ANNOY): pushing, assertive, *aggressive …   New Dictionary of Synonyms

  • officious — [adj] self important, dictatorial busy, forward, impertinent, inquisitive, interfering, intrusive, meddlesome, meddling, obtrusive, opinionated, overzealous, pragmatic, pushy, rude; concept 404 Ant. modest, shy, timid …   New thesaurus

  • officious — ► ADJECTIVE ▪ asserting authority or interfering in an overbearing way. DERIVATIVES officiously adverb officiousness noun …   English terms dictionary

  • officious — [ə fish′əs] adj. [L officiosus < officium,OFFICE] 1. Obs. ready to serve; obliging 2. offering unnecessary and unwanted advice or services; meddlesome, esp. in a highhanded or overbearing way 3. in diplomacy, unofficial or informal officiously …   English World dictionary

  • Officious — Wikipedia does not have an encyclopedia article for Officious (search results). You may want to read Wiktionary s entry on Officious instead.wiktionary:Special:Search/Officious …   Wikipedia

  • officious — official, officious The main meanings of official are ‘in the nature of an office’ (Their official duties) and ‘authorized or confirmed by someone in authority’ (The official attendance was over 10,000). By contrast, officious is a judgemental… …   Modern English usage

  • officious — [[t]əfɪ̱ʃəs[/t]] ADJ GRADED (disapproval) If you describe someone as officious, you are critical of them because they are eager to tell people what to do when you think they should not. They wouldn t welcome any officious interference from the… …   English dictionary

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