officious
asserting authority or offering help in an annoying, intrusive way
Word origin: From Latin officiosus, dutiful, from officium, duty.
Officious in a sentence
Here are example sentences showing officious in a sentence.
An officious clerk insisted on inspecting paperwork no one had asked about.
An officious clerk insisted on rechecking every signature, holding up the line over rules no one had asked about.
Using “officious” well
Officious means meddlesome and intrusively eager to assert authority or offer unwanted help, always negative. Do not confuse it with official, which simply means authorized or formal.
More GRE words starting with O
a stupid, clumsy, or boorish person
stubbornly refusing to change one's mind or course of action
a gesture or attitude of deep respect or submission
showing deferential respect or submissive obedience
a tapering stone pillar with a pyramidal top, typically erected as a monument
grossly overweight to a degree that poses a health risk
to make something deliberately unclear or confusing
the act of making something deliberately unclear or confusing
Questions about “officious”
See these words the way the GRE tests them.
Definitions in isolation do not stick. Sit a free, full-length GRE mock and meet this vocabulary inside real text completion and sentence equivalence questions, with your score and a worked solution for every answer.