Both Uses of
officious
in
Sense and Sensibility
- Every qualification is raised at times, by the circumstances of the moment, to more than its real value; and she was sometimes worried down by officious condolence to rate good-breeding as more indispensable to comfort than good-nature.†
Chpt 32 *officious = too eager to tell others what to do
- Before her removing from Norland, Elinor had painted a very pretty pair of screens for her sister-in-law, which being now just mounted and brought home, ornamented her present drawing room; and these screens, catching the eye of John Dashwood on his following the other gentlemen into the room, were officiously handed by him to Colonel Brandon for his admiration.†
Chpt 34officiously = in the manner of someone too eager to tell others what to do
Definitions:
-
(1)
(officious) too eager to tell others what to do -- often regarding unimportant matters
-
(2)
(meaning too rare to warrant focus) meaning too rare to warrant focus:
Much less commonly, officious can mean informal or unofficial as in "officious conversation between assistants." Even less commonly, it can be used in classic literature to refer to a desire to help others.