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OFFICIOUS
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I. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Intrusive in a meddling or offensive manner
Example:
busy about other people's business
Synonyms:
busy; busybodied; interfering; meddlesome; meddling; officious
Classified under:
Similar:
intrusive (tending to intrude (especially upon privacy))
Derivation:
officiousness (aggressiveness as evidenced by intruding; by advancing yourself or your ideas without invitation)
Context examples:
In vain were the well-meant condescensions of Sir Thomas, and all the officious prognostications of Mrs. Norris that she would be a good girl; in vain did Lady Bertram smile and make her sit on the sofa with herself and pug, and vain was even the sight of a gooseberry tart towards giving her comfort; she could scarcely swallow two mouthfuls before tears interrupted her, and sleep seeming to be her likeliest friend, she was taken to finish her sorrows in bed.
(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)
The fact is, that you were sick of civility, of deference, of officious attention.
(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)
To all she must have saved some trouble of head or hand; and were it only in supporting the spirits of her aunt Bertram, keeping her from the evil of solitude, or the still greater evil of a restless, officious companion, too apt to be heightening danger in order to enhance her own importance, her being there would have been a general good.
(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)
'We must persuade Henry to marry her,' said she; 'and what with honour, and the certainty of having shut himself out for ever from Fanny, I do not despair of it. Fanny he must give up. I do not think that even he could now hope to succeed with one of her stamp, and therefore I hope we may find no insuperable difficulty. My influence, which is not small shall all go that way; and when once married, and properly supported by her own family, people of respectability as they are, she may recover her footing in society to a certain degree. In some circles, we know, she would never be admitted, but with good dinners, and large parties, there will always be those who will be glad of her acquaintance; and there is, undoubtedly, more liberality and candour on those points than formerly. What I advise is, that your father be quiet. Do not let him injure his own cause by interference. Persuade him to let things take their course. If by any officious exertions of his, she is induced to leave Henry's protection, there will be much less chance of his marrying her than if she remain with him.
(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)
