obtrude

English

WOTD – 1 June 2011

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

(UK) IPA^(key): /əbˈtɹuːd/, /ɒbˈtɹuːd/
- Audio (UK) (file)
- Audio (UK) (file)
Rhymes: -uːd

Verb

obtrude (third-person singular simple present obtrudes, present participle obtruding, simple past and past participle obtruded)

(transitive) To proffer (something) by force; to impose (something) on someone or into some area. [from 16th c.]
- 1651, Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan:
  By which we may see, that they who are not called to Counsell, can have no good Counsell in such cases to obtrude.
- 1855, Elizabeth Gaskell, North and South:
  It was unusual with Margaret to obtrude her own subject of conversation on others; but, in this case, she was so anxious to prevent Mr. Thornton from feeling annoyance at the words he had accidentally overheard, that it was not until she had done speaking that she coloured all over with consciousness […]
- 2007, Andrew Martin, The Guardian, 16 Jul 2007:
  The prospect of people writing PhD theses that obtrude hard facts into the question of whether it's a) grim or b) nice up north is naturally worrying to all those of us who like to shout about those matters in the saloon bars of England.
(intransitive) To become apparent in an unwelcome way, to be forcibly imposed; to jut in, to intrude (on or into). [from 16th c.]
- 1815, Jane Austen, Emma, volume III, chapter 18:
  How you can bear such recollections, is astonishing to me!—They will sometimes obtrude—but how you can court them!
- 1853, Charlotte Brontë, Villette:
  Sometimes I dreamed strangely of disturbed earth, and of hair, still golden and living, obtruded through the coffin-chinks.
- 1991, Roy Jenkins, A Life at the Centre:
  It was not only the police but the palace which obtruded on a home secretary's life.
- 2010, Colin Greenland, The Guardian, 7 Aug 2010:
  In such a very chronological book, though, small anachronisms do obtrude.
(reflexive) To impose (oneself) on others; to cut in. [from 17th c.]
- 1934, Winston Churchill, Marlborough: His Life and Times, vol II:
  She obtruded herself upon the Queen; she protested her party views; she asked for petty favours, and attributed the refusals to the influence of Abigail.
- 2004, Marc Abrahams, The Guardian, 13 Jan 2004:
  This scarcity of knowledge also obtruded itself in 1998, when three scientists in Wales published a report called "What Sort of Men Take Garlic Preparations?"
- 2010, Christopher Hitchens, Hitch-22, Atlantic 2011, p. 121:
  As 1968 began to ebb into 1969, however, and as “anticlimax” began to become a real word in my lexicon, another term began to obtrude itself.

Derived terms

obtruder

Related terms

English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *trewd-‎ (0 c, 26 e)

Translations

transitive

Bulgarian: нахлувам (bg) (nahluvam)
Dutch: opdringen (nl)
Finnish: tyrkyttää (fi), tuputtaa (fi) (proffer by force); pakottaa (fi) (impose on); tunkea (fi) (impose into)
Russian: навязывать (ru) (navjazyvatʹ)
Ukrainian: нав'язувати (navʺjazuvaty)

intransitive

Bulgarian: натрапвам се (natrapvam se), меся се (mesja se)
Finnish: tunkeutua (fi), tungetella (fi)
French: empiéter (fr), transparaître (fr)

reflexive

Finnish: tyrkyttäytyä, tungetella (fi)
Russian: навязываться (ru) (navjazyvatʹsja)
Ukrainian: нав'язуватися (navʺjazuvatysja)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

Spanish: ^{(please verify)} imponer (es), ^{(please verify)} imponerse (es), ^{(please verify)} sobresalir (es)

Anagrams

debtour, doubter, outbred, redoubt, turboed

Latin

Verb

obtrūde

second-person singular present active imperative of obtrūdō