Overintervening

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Describing someone or something that steps in too forcefully or too often, interfering beyond what is appropriate or needed
2. Characterizing an action that meddles or interposes itself to an excessive degree, going well past a helpful or reasonable amount
3. Intervening in a matter more than is wise, so that involvement becomes unwelcome interference rather than assistance

Etymology: "Overintervening" is a plain English formation: the prefix "over-" (meaning excessive or too much), attached to "intervening," the present participle of the verb "intervene." That verb came into English in the early 1600s, borrowed from Latin "intervenire," meaning "to come between," built from "inter-" ("between") and "venire" ("to come"). The participle "intervening" carries the sense of stepping in between things, and the adjective "overintervening" takes that sense and applies it to someone who steps in too often or too forcefully. The prefix "over-" is productive in English, and it has produced many similar coinages, such as "overinvolved" and "overprotective," which follow the same pattern.