Word family noun office officer official officialdom officialese officiousness adjective official ≠ unofficial officious verb officiate adverb officially ≠ unofficially officiously
From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishofficiousof‧fi‧cious /əˈfɪʃəs/ adjective TELL/ORDER somebody TO DO somethingtoo eager to tell people what to do – used to show disapproval an officious traffic warden —officiously adverb —officiousness noun [uncountable]Examples from the Corpus
officious• The people at the tax department were very officious, and kept everyone waiting for hours while they checked their papers.• All those dreary councillors and their officious bureaucrats deserve to be humbled.• an officious guard at the security desk• Firmness, she thought, was the only way to deal with the officious little man.• If he hadn't been an incredibly brainy person he would have been an officious one-eyed council clerk or something.• Why, we wonder, were Darlington police so officious over this?• I got held up by an officious receptionist who wouldn't let me in until I'd answered all her questions.• Back in the car park, I found that an officious traffic warden had decided to make my day.• He felt shamed and humiliated by the officious treatment he received at the hands of the pompous men at Immigration.• Fabio raised it, ironically, but Sergio was already back in the kitchen, doing something officious with the salad dressing. 