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.
(Douay
version).
[1913 Webster]
2. Disposed to serve; kind; obliging. [Archaic]
[1913 Webster]
Yet not to earth are those bright luminaries
Officious. --Milton.
[1913 Webster]
They were tolerably well bred, very officious,
humane, and hospitable. --Burke.
[1913 Webster]
3. Importunately interposing services; intermeddling in
affairs in which one has no concern; meddlesome.
[1913 Webster]
You are too officious
In her behalf that scorns your services. --Shak.
[1913 Webster]
Syn: Impertinent; meddling. See Impertinent.
[1913 Webster] --
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
officious
adj : intrusive in a meddling or offensive manner; "an interfering
old woman"; "bustling about self-importantly making an
officious nuisance of himself"; "busy about other
people's business" [syn: interfering, meddlesome, meddling,
busy, busybodied]
WordNet (r) 2.0
25 Moby Thesaurus words for "officious":
aggressive, bold, busy, busybody, demanding, dictatorial, forward,
impertinent, importunate, inquisitive, insistent, interfering,
intruding, intrusive, meddlesome, meddling, nosy, obtrusive,
persistent, presumptuous, prying, pushing, pushy, self-appointed,
snoopy
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0
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