Make Your Point: OBTRUSIVE

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pronounce OBTRUSIVE:

ub TRUE siv

connect this word to others:

When something extrudes or protrudes, it forces or shoves itself outward. And when someone intrudes, they force or shove themselves inward: into your conversation, your personal business, or your personal space. (Shudder.)

Intrusive things are annoying. So are obtrusive things, as we'll explore in a moment. Perhaps equally annoying, just in a different way, are __struse things: things that are too specialized or complicated for regular people to understand them, as if they've been, figuratively, shoved away into the deepest pits of knowledge. Could you recall that word?

All these bold words belong to the trudere family. They have to do with forcing, pushing, thrusting, or shoving. Like when you're trying to read on a flight, but your seatmate has their headphones turned up so loud that you can feel the music vibrating in your teeth. That's obtrusive.

(To reveal any word with blanks, give it a click.)

definition:

The word "obtrude" has Latin bits that literally mean "to push or thrust (trudere) toward or in front of someone (ob)."

When something obtrudes itself, or when it obtrudes on other things, it sticks out in a way that annoys you, interrupts you, or forces you to notice it.

The adjective for those things is "obtrusive." Obtrusive things, and people, are the kind that seem to stick out in a really irritating and unwelcome way, when you want them to just be subtle or fade into the background.

grammatical bits:

Part of speech:

Adjective: "We were distracted by the obtrusive music;" "The music seemed obtrusive."

Other forms:

If you need a noun, you could use "obtrusion" or "obtrusiveness." Neither is common, but they're easy to understand.

The verb is "obtrude:" "The music obtruded itself;" "The music was obtruding on our conversation."

The adverb is "obtrusively:" "Loud music thrummed obtrusively all around us as we tried to talk."

And the precise opposite are "unobtrusive" and "unobtrusively."

how to use it:

Pick the formal, serious, semi-common, sharply negative word "obtrusive" when you want to complain about how annoying and inappropriate something is when it seems to force you to pay attention to it.

For example, if you meant to add a tiny pinch of cilantro to your pumpkin soup, but you accidentally add a giant handful of it, the cilantro will be obtrusive. It'll force you to taste it and nothing else.

For another example, obtrusive music and other sounds bother you because they're too noticeable. You might be watching a movie, trying to hear the characters talk, but you can't because the background music is too loud. The music is obtrusive.

One more! If you prefer living and working in spaces with clean, simple designs, then you'll find a bright orange flowery wallpaper to be obtrusive. You're trying to work, or eat, or talk, and the wallpaper seems to be grabbing your eyeballs. It's obtrusive.

examples:

"Her rooms were so silent that the music seemed obtrusive."
— Sarah J. Maas, Throne of Glass, 2012

"Why is it necessary to allow indoor vaping as a smoking-cessation aid when less obtrusive remedies — patches, gum, pretzel sticks — are available?"
— Karla L. Miller, Washington Post, 15 March 2018

has this page helped you understand "obtrusive"?

Awesome, I'm glad it helped!

Thanks for letting me know!
If you have any questions about this word, please message me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.

study it:

Explain the meaning of "obtrusive" without saying "interjecting" or "intruding."

try it out:

Fill in the blanks: "I prefer (one thing instead of something else) because (some part of it) is less obtrusive."

Example 1: "I prefer the sound of a mandolin over a banjo because the twanginess is less obtrusive."

Example 2: "[For making tomato gravy:] As far as the okra, the smaller the better: Their skins will be more tender and their seeds less obtrusive."
— Emily Horton, Washington Post, 28 August 2017

before you review, play:

Try to spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—first, let your working memory empty out.

This month, our game is "Sarah In Dip a Day!"

I'll give you some song lyrics that contain a sophisticated word or phrase—but I'll swap it out for what you might hear if you didn't know that word or phrase.

Your job is to find the spot where the lyrics quit making sense, then reinterpret those words as the artist actually wrote them.

Here's an example:

"I'm on a one-way street,
My fall from grace complete,
But I feel that there's a hazard hanging over me.
But I take away the feeling that I can't see,
And now you say to me
Sarah in dip a day."
—Amaranthe

Here, the meaning breaks down at "Sarah in dip a day," which should read "Serendipity."

Try this one today:

"The trail we blaze
Is a road uncharted
Through terror and cog need a
To a golden shrine.
No place for the traveler
To be faint-hearted.
We are part of the sumptuous
Grand design."
—Elton John

If you need some clues, highlight the hidden white text below.
1. The part that needs to be changed is..."terror and cog need a"
2. The term that's being sung means..."any place or idea that's unknown and unexplored"
To see the answer, scroll all the way down!

review this word:

1. The precise opposite of OBTRUSIVE is UNOBTRUSIVE. But some pretty close opposites of OBTRUSIVE are

A. SLIM and SLENDER.
B. VIVID and EYE-CATCHING.
C. SUBTLE and INCONSPICUOUS.

2. A writer for the New York Times described the cinematography of NCIS: Los Angeles as "obtrusive," with "_____ color and sound."

A. muted
B. blaring
C. stylish

a final word:

I hope you're enjoying Make Your Point. It's made with love.

I'm Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words.

From my blog:
On vocabulary...
  36 ways to study words.
  Why we forget words, & how to remember them.
  How to use sophisticated words without being awkward.
On writing...
How to improve any sentence.
How to motivate our kids to write.
How to stop procrastinating and start writing.
How to bulk up your writing when you have to meet a word count.

From my heart: a profound thanks to the generous patrons, donors, and sponsors that make it possible for me to write these emails. If you'd like to be a patron or a donor, please click here. If you'd like to be a sponsor and include your ad in an issue, please contact me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.

A disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes.

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Make Your Point > Archived Issues > OBTRUSIVE

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