officious

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_ Let not your Loves be too officious -- but retire --

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Definitions (10)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (3)

  1. adjective Marked by excessive eagerness in offering unwanted services or advice to others: an officious host; officious attention.
  2. adjective Informal; unofficial.
  3. adjective Archaic Eager to render services or help others.

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Examples (50)

  • She realized all at once that she had been meddlesome and officious, and she longed to make amends There was silence for a full minute. —  Blue Bonnet in Boston or, Boarding-School Days at Miss North's
  • A rapid glance at Miss Hartley helped him to regain his composure I don't know why the boy should have been so officious," he said, slowly; "I didn't want to see you. —  Salthaven
  • She is a young lady, petite in figure, unpretending but highly cultivated, by no means officious, and so wholly unconscious of her excellencies, and the great work she is achieving, that I fear this public allusion to her may pain her modest nature. —  Woman's Work in the Civil War A Record of Heroism, Patriotism, and Patience
  • "The papers are very officious, and these other people are simply impertinent. —  Second Book of Tales
  • “Abraham’s brats_” was used by him in perfect good faith, and without the slightest feeling that anything ludicrous or contemptuous adhered to the word ‘brat’, as indeed in his time there did not, any more than adheres to ‘brood’, which is another form of the same word now{222 Call a person ‘pragmatical’, and you now imply not merely that he is busy, but over_-busy, officious, self-important, and pompous to boot. —  English Past and Present
 

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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

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Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Latin officiōsus, obliging, dutiful, from officium, duty; see office.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. from French officieux = Spanish oficioso = Portuguese officioso = Italian officioso, uffizioso, from Latin officiosus, dutiful, obliging, from officium, service, duty: see office.
 

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/əˈfɪʃəs/
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