over-officiousadj.
/ˌəʊv(ə)rəˈfɪʃəs/, U.S. /ˈˌoʊvərəˈfɪʃəs/ Excessively officious.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > doing > activity or occupation > acting in another's business or intervention > [adjective] > officious
busy1340
pragmatical1593
officious1596
polypragmatical1597
superfluous1598
pragmaticc1612
superserviceablea1616
polypragmatic1616
stickling1642
over-officious1647
polypragmonetic1693
managinga1715
busybodied1798
busybodyish1851
pantopragmatic1860
polypragmonic1866
polypragmosynic1886
1647 H. More Philos. Poems To Rdr. 7/2 Some sportfull or over officious spirit.
a1661 T. Fuller Worthies (1662) Essex 347 Winchester Castle was..ordered to be made Untenable; but the over-officious malice of such who executed the Order (wilfully mistaking the word) made it Untenantable.
a1713 Ld. Shaftesbury Characteristicks (1714) II. ii. 255 There are other over-officious and less-suspected Hands.
1733 J. Gay Achilles ii. v. 34 Bid these over-officious Friends leave me.
1842 S. Smith Lett. Locking in on Railways in Wks. (1859) II. 322/2 Nothing..can be more utterly silly..than this over-officious care of the public.
1879 H. J. Byron Married in Haste ii. 23 Gus was requested immediately on our arrival, by an over officious waiter, to place his name on the hotel-book.
1933 P. Léon in Lett. J. Joyce (1966) III. 285 Members of Mr. Joyce's family and overofficious friends.
1990 R. W. Southern St. Anselm (BNC) 323 Dealing with complaints about the negligence of monastic officials, restraining the over-officious severity of the sub-prior, [etc.].
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2004; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.1647