obtrude
Americanverb
-
to push (oneself, one's opinions, etc) on others in an unwelcome way
-
(tr) to push out or forward
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of obtrude
1545–55; < Latin obtrūdere to thrust against, equivalent to ob- ob- + trūdere to thrust
Explanation
If you want to be rude, you'll obtrude, or thrust yourself to the front of a line without waiting. Who asked you? If the answer is no one, chances are you've decided to obtrude or shove your ideas and opinions into everyone's face. Obtrude has its origins in the Latin ob meaning "toward" and trudere meaning "to thrust." An intruder climbing through your kitchen window is someone who chooses to obtrude, or forcefully enter your home.
Vocabulary lists containing obtrude
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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.
See Examples For:
The amount of stuff accumulating began to reach out from behind the store and obtrude into plain view; the amount of stuff disappearing from their properties was increasing.
From Slate ● Mar. 25, 2026
But a producing interest can obtrude on the artistic process by imposing artificial deadlines and prioritizing the needs of the theater over the work itself.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 5, 2022
No such doubts obtrude upon the archaic fantasy world set up by the writers in the catalog to this show.
From Time Magazine Archive
As May observed, Mr Matheson should be made aware that he must not obtrude his common acquaintances upon them.
From The Shadow of the Past by F.E. Mills Young
How Lonsdale Road, where the Caffyns lived, should have come to obtrude itself upon the flimsy architecture of the neighborhood is not so obvious.
From The Vanity Girl by Compton MacKenzie
He sometimes obtruded on what he described with a bestowing air, but that constant presence, which could feel undisciplined and unmedical, was requisite to his particular brand of intimacy.
From The Guardian ● Sep. 4, 2015
Yet the barrier of language and the unfamiliarity of a charm that has fathomless depths but no tumult had obtruded themselves.
From Time Magazine Archive
Into this grave situation another factor obtruded itself last week.
From Time Magazine Archive
Mrs. Danvers never obtruded herself, but I was aware of her continually.
From "Rebecca" by Daphne du Maurier
Between Charnock's eyes and the newspaper, against the red cliffs of Teignmouth, on the green of the home counties, his face obtruded, and for a particular reason.
From Miranda of the Balcony A Story by A. E. W. (Alfred Edward Woodle) Mason
That is the thesis of Author Hilton's circumstantial Ill Wind: without ever obtruding himself or appearing to state a case, he makes it brilliantly clear how far a single action can fling its consequences.
From Time Magazine Archive
She shared her son's political successes only from a distance, never obtruding herself into his spotlight.
From Time Magazine Archive
I tried not to look at it, but it kept obtruding at the corners of my vision.
From "The Secret History" by Donna Tartt
The south aisle is marred by the obtruding classic columns of its side chapels.
From Cathedral Cities of Italy by William Wiehe Collins
If there was no squalor obtruding itself upon the stranger, neither was there any display of ostentatious wealth.
From Nooks and Corners of the New England Coast by Samuel Adams Drake
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.
