officious əˈfɪʃəs adjective
: intrusive in a meddling or offensive manner
The word officious has appeared eight times on NYTimes.com in the past year, including on Aug. 13 in The New York Times Magazine article “They Want You to Get Off Your Couch, and Go Set a World Record,” by Lauren Larson. The article explains that each Guinness World Record has its own set of rules, some of them minute:
Consider the regulations for most dice stacked in one minute (there’s also a record for how many dice a person can stack in 30 seconds and a record for most dice stacked on a cat’s paw): “You have to start with both hands flat on the table,” said Mark McKinley, director of central record services at Guinness. “You can only start on a ‘go.’ You can only touch one dice at a time. The dice have to be this size. They have to be free-standing, and if any fall you cannot return to them.” “There is a natural theatricality to what seems to be an over-officious organizational setup,” said Craig Glenday, editor in chief of the Guinness World Records book. “We become bogged down in rules because, otherwise, what’s the point in doing it at all?”
Daily Word Challenge
Can you correctly use the word officious in a sentence?
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