Definition of OBTRUSIVE

Choose the Right Synonym for obtrusive

impertinent, officious, meddlesome, intrusive, obtrusive mean given to thrusting oneself into the affairs of others. impertinent implies exceeding the bounds of propriety in showing interest or curiosity or in offering advice. resented their impertinent interference officious implies the offering of services or attentions that are unwelcome or annoying. officious friends made the job harder meddlesome stresses an annoying and usually prying interference in others' affairs. a meddlesome landlord intrusive implies a tactless or otherwise objectionable thrusting into others' affairs. tried to be helpful without being intrusive obtrusive stresses improper or offensive conspicuousness of interfering actions. expressed an obtrusive concern for his safety

Examples of obtrusive in a Sentence

The waiter was attentive without being obtrusive. We used less obtrusive colors in the bedrooms.

Recent Examples on the Web

This can make your eyes pump out more tears to flush away debris, or your lashes might help sweep away any obtrusive pieces of matter, the Mayo Clinic explains. — Korin Miller, SELF, "Here’s Why Your Eyes Are Burning When You Put In Your Contacts," 10 Oct. 2018 Lisio does, however, manage a cameo in the final cut that aired last week (around the 3:50 mark in the video below) in a far less obtrusive manner — by laying in Targalski’s lap, getting petted as the professor conducts a seated interview. — Amy B Wang, Washington Post, "A professor was giving a TV interview about Polish politics. His cat didn’t care.," 9 July 2018 Some jarring comic absurdism is added through the unusually obtrusive presence of Aunt March’s parrot. — New York Times, "Review: ‘Little Women,’ Through British Eyes," 11 May 2018 Lisio does, however, manage a cameo in the final cut that aired last week in a far less obtrusive manner – by laying in Targalski’s lap, getting petted as the professor conducts a seated interview. — Amy B Wang, The Seattle Times, "A professor was giving a TV interview about Polish politics. His cat didn’t care.," 9 July 2018 Some dogs fear the big lens, in which case, Rodgers has a less-obtrusive compact camera with manual options on standby. — Jayme Moye, Outside Online, "How to Take Any Dog on an Adventure," 27 June 2018 That means that a bad user experience for video—riddled with annoying, glitchy, or just plain obtrusive ads—is a bad user experience for the Internet, full stop. — Ralf Jacob, Fortune, "AI Is About to Make Video Ads a Lot Less Annoying," 26 June 2018 But real kind of non-obtrusive, unobtrusive AR glasses, those are still several years away. — Recode Staff, Recode, "Full transcript: Recode Editor in Chief Dan Frommer answers Apple WWDC questions on Too Embarrassed to Ask," 25 June 2018 That is what Espinoza did after moving his crate from room to room, eventually settling on the bedroom as the least obtrusive spot. — Michelle Higgins, sacbee, "Limit the impact that dogs, cats unleash on orderliness | The Sacramento Bee," 25 May 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'obtrusive.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.