meddlesome
Americanadjective
adjective
Related Words
See curious.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of meddlesome
Explanation
A meddlesome person gets in your business in a way that's totally annoying. In other words, they meddle. Respect people's privacy by not being meddlesome. In Yiddish, the word "yenta" is used for people who interfere in other people's business. A defining quality of the "yenta" is that they're meddlesome. You could say that someone who's meddlesome gets "in the middle" of your business, if that's the way you like to remember words. Just remember that the spelling is different from "middle." I don't mean to be meddlesome, but you'd be well advised not to confuse the words "meddle" and "middle," even if one helps you remember the other.
Vocabulary lists containing meddlesome
The Secret Garden
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
The Blood of Olympus
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
Blood Water Paint
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Or at Lark on the Park, Spoon, Meddlesome Moth and a number of other restaurants here.
From Washington Post
But the U. S. press rallied surprisingly, not in Litvinov's support, but against Statesman Stimson as a Meddlesome Mattie.
From Time Magazine Archive
Through the latter half of the 19th Century most of the nation's schoolchildren learned about Meddlesome Mattie, many another moral, immoral or amoral character in William Holmes McGuffey's famed series of Eclectic Readers.
From Time Magazine Archive
I don't propose to be a Meddlesome Mattie, but .
From Time Magazine Archive
“You’d better not try, Miss Meddlesome Matty,” ejaculated Ernest sharply.
From Chicken Little Jane by Ritchie, Lily Munsell
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
