Obtrude

verb

verb ·2 syllables ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Verb
  1. 1
    To proffer (something) by force; to impose (something) on someone or into some area. transitive

    "By which we may see, that they who are not called to Counsell, can have no good Counsell in such cases to obtrude."

  2. 2
    thrust oneself in as if by force wordnet
  3. 3
    To become apparent in an unwelcome way, to be forcibly imposed; to jut in, to intrude (on or into). intransitive

    "How you can bear such recollections, is astonishing to me!—They will sometimes obtrude—but how you can court them!"

  4. 4
    push to thrust outward wordnet
  5. 5
    To impose (oneself) on others; to cut in. reflexive

    "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."

Synonyms

All synonyms
intrudestick outbarge inboot outbouncebreak in

Example

More examples

"Do not obtrude upon her sorrow."

Etymology

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

Related phrases

cut in

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.