Pronounced: rih-jek-tuh-MEN-tuh, noun
Notes: This word is a plural noun; you may know the word
Yesterday’s word
The word officious means
- excessively eager in offering unwanted or unneeded advice or help
- acting in pompous or domineering manner, especially in trivial matters
First usage
Our word came into English in the late 1400s
Background / Comments
I had an idea of the sense of pomposity; a kind of a stickler for details. What I did not know was that this word originally a good thing: someone who was dutiful or helpful. Over time, the word came to have a negative sense. With that known, our word comes from the Latin word officiosus (dutiful), which came from officium (service).
Richard's Vocabulary Word-of-the-Day 