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intrusive

[in-troo-siv]
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adjective
  1. tending or apt to intrude; coming without invitation or welcome: intrusive memories of a lost love.
  2. characterized by or involving intrusion.
  3. intruding; thrusting in.
  4. Geology.
    1. (of a rock) having been forced between preexisting rocks or rock layers while in a molten or plastic condition.
    2. noting or pertaining to plutonic rocks.
  5. Phonetics. excrescent(def 2).
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Origin of intrusive

late Middle English word dating back to 1375–1425; see origin at intrusion, -ive
Related formsin·tru·sive·ly, adverbin·tru·sive·ness, nounnon·in·tru·sive, adjectivenon·in·tru·sive·ly, adverbun·in·tru·sive, adjectiveun·in·tru·sive·ly, adverb

Synonyms

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1. annoying, bothersome, interfering, distracting, irksome, worrisome, troublesome, irritating, disturbing.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for intrusiveness

Contemporary Examples

Historical Examples

  • We are irritated by the intrusiveness of this course of instruction.

  • And so his intrusiveness had begun to narrow me down to the college itself.

  • Intrusiveness she might resent, but indifference she would and did.

    The Deserter

    Charles King

  • I stole away abashed at my own intrusiveness, and feeling that I was rightfully punished by the misery that overwhelmed me.

    That Boy Of Norcott's

    Charles James Lever

  • Certainly, privacy should be respected, and we should not force ourselves upon others, but attentiveness is not intrusiveness.

    Herein is Love

    Reuel L. Howe

British Dictionary definitions for intrusiveness

intrusive

adjective
  1. characterized by intrusion or tending to intrude
  2. (of igneous rocks) formed by intrusionCompare extrusive (def. 2)
  3. phonetics relating to or denoting a speech sound that is introduced into a word or piece of connected speech for a phonetic rather than a historical or grammatical reason, such as the (r) often pronounced between idea and of in the idea of it
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Derived Formsintrusively, adverbintrusiveness, noun
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for intrusiveness

intrusive

adj.

c.1400, from Latin intrus-, past participle stem of intrudere (see intrusion) + -ive. Related: Intrusively; intrusiveness.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper