busybody means someone who interferes with others; one who is nosy, intrusive or meddlesome. Lexicurio rates it Rare gem — a strength score of 70 out of 100.
Why “busybody” is a great word
BUSYBODY — [Noun] A person who meddles or pries officiously into the affairs of others. From the now-obsolete sense of 'busy' meaning 'prying, meddlesome' + 'body' meaning 'person'; first attested in 1526. Unlike a "gossip" (who primarily spreads idle talk) or an "observer" (who watches passively), a busybody is an agent of intrusive action. It is the hand parting your curtains to peer into your lit window, the unsolicited letter correcting a neighbor's overgrown hedge, and the colleague leaning in to amend your email's salutation—a testament to the restless conviction that another's business is, in fact, one's own rightful territory, a small, desperate violence against the untidiness of lives not their own.
Etymology
From busy + body.
noun
- Someone who interferes with others; one who is nosy, intrusive or meddlesome.“Se that none of you ſuffre as a murtherer / or as a thefe / or an evyll doar / or as a buſybody in wother mens matters.”
- A device consisting of three mirrors that, when attached to the wall of a house, allows an occupant to see who is at the front door without a direct line of sight.
verb
- To meddle or interfere.