obtrude

UK/əbˈtɹuːd/

verbC2Rare in speech; mostly a word you read · #15,124 of 15,258Too rare in one of the two pools to compare — fewer than 20 uses in speech or in writing

To obtrude is to push yourself forward where you are not wanted. Obtrude on their grief, obtrude an opinion, refuse to obtrude.

It is formal and disapproving, and the related adjective obtrusive is far commoner — an obtrusive camera is one you cannot stop noticing. Unobtrusive, the polite opposite, is the form most people actually use.

Definitions of obtrude

1verbobtrudeTo push yourself forward where you are not wanted.C2
“I don't want to obtrude on your family's grief, but I wanted to offer my help.”

obtrude is an intruding.

Where it comes from

Latin obtrudere means to thrust against — ob, against, plus trudere, to thrust. Intrude is the same verb.

Proto-Indo-European
*trewd-
Latin
obtrūdō — thrust off or against
English, today
obtrude

Built from

ob- · Latin — ob-
trudo · Latin — thrust

From Latin obtrūdō (“thrust off or against”), from ob- (“ob-”) + trudo (“thrust”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

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