Examples of officious

• It would, no doubt, be easier to interpret if it were a case of ' local ' men ganging up on an officious ' outsider ' to protect one of their own.

• When we came to the platform on the railway station we were met by the station master, an officious little man with a peaked cap.

• Questions were asked at the eye clinic but these are said to have brought merely a brisk and officious response.

• It may be an instance of an officious store detective whose decision to arrest would be immediately countermanded by a more senior member of staff.

• But we can also opt for a bureaucratic, officious, quick, artificial and probably unsatisfactory answer.

• We are not being too officious, and not imposing too detailed controls.

• This is a desirable modification of subsection (1), but it causes one to think that subsection (1) is quite unnecessarily officious.

• Quality care is not provided by officious inspections.