overlook
Americanverb (used with object)
-
overlooks,
present (3rd person singular)
-
overlooked,
past participle, past
-
overlooking
present participle
-
to fail to notice, perceive, or consider.
to overlook a misspelled word.
- Synonyms:
- miss
-
to disregard or ignore indulgently, as faults or misconduct.
Only a parent could overlook that kind of behavior.
-
to look over, as from a higher position.
a balcony that overlooks the ballroom.
-
to afford a view over; look down or out upon.
a hill overlooking the sea.
-
to rise above.
The Washington Monument overlooks the tidal basin.
-
a minor infraction we can overlook this time.
-
to look over in inspection, examination, or perusal.
They allowed us to overlook the proposed contract.
-
to look after, oversee, or supervise.
She has to overlook a large number of employees.
-
Archaic. to look upon with the evil eye; bewitch.
noun
-
overlooks
plural
verb
-
to fail to notice or take into account
-
to disregard deliberately or indulgently
-
to look at or over from above
the garden is overlooked by the prison
-
to afford a view of from above
the house overlooks the bay
-
to rise above
-
to look after
-
to look at carefully
-
to bewitch or cast the evil eye upon (someone)
noun
-
a high place affording a view
-
an act of overlooking
Synonym Usage
See slight.
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
overlooksimple
-
overlookssimple
-
have overlookedperfect
-
has overlookedperfect
-
am overlookingprogressive
-
are overlookingprogressive
-
is overlookingprogressive
-
have been overlookingperfect progressive
-
has been overlookingperfect progressive
Past
-
overlookedsimple
-
had overlookedperfect
-
was overlookingprogressive
-
were overlookingprogressive
-
had been overlookingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of overlook
First recorded in 1325–75; Middle English; see origin at over-, look
Explanation
To overlook something is to fail to see it. When planning a party, it's best to write out a to-do list so that you don't overlook any details. The verb overlook literally means to look over the top of. The word has come to refer to the act of neglecting something, usually because your focus is aimed elsewhere. You might overlook the cost of car insurance if you’re busy calculating the cost of buying the car and paying for gas and parking. As a noun, an overlook is a space high above ground. You might overlook your curfew if you're busy enjoying an overlook with your date.
Vocabulary lists containing overlook
Cormac McCarthy's "The Road"
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Vocabulary from the Lyrics of Pete Seeger
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"Why Women Should Vote" by Jane Addams (1910)
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Working with mouse neurons, they found evidence that a familiar picture of brain cell anatomy may overlook an important feature of the cells' signal-carrying extensions.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 17, 2026
They are astonishingly adaptable and, perhaps for exactly that reason, easy to overlook.
From Salon ● Sep. 7, 2026
Huntsinger hopes audiences won’t overlook Arthur Harari’s “The Unknown,” an uncanny body-swapping drama starring Léa Seydoux that uses its genre premise to explore questions of identity and selfhood.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 3, 2026
But you overlook an important part of the story: the Midwest Premium.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 2, 2026
I’ve never known anyone so willing to withhold judgment and overlook what often strike me as major personality defects.
From "Me Talk Pretty One Day" by David Sedaris
My errand took me past a railing that overlooks a large canal where wildlife often visits.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026
A mile-long boardwalk overlooks the beach, as does the Fiscalini Ranch Preserve, which has its own popular blufftop trail.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 8, 2026
Mao's face is printed on banknotes, his portrait overlooks Tiananmen Square, and his body is preserved in a mausoleum.
From Barron's ● Sep. 6, 2026
The property also boasts 740 square feet of decking—and a large swimming pool that overlooks the ocean.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 1, 2026
I am in my tower that overlooks the village: all the stone buildings and walls and casas and peoples and animals.
From "The Unfinished Angel" by Sharon Creech
But your fear does reveal an often overlooked fact about getting older.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 23, 2026
One thing my dad understood that I think gets overlooked: “Star Trek” wasn’t going out into the galaxy to find aliens that looked different.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 22, 2026
New research led by UC Riverside suggests that a simple but overlooked process may help explain the difference: individual pieces of ice repeatedly collide with one another.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 18, 2026
Boasting Georgian and Victorian architecture and overlooked by the Medieval fortress Castle Rushen, concerns have been raised over a severe decline in the number shops in Castletown's centre.
From BBC ● Sep. 17, 2026
The answer could have been there, among the other papers that I, in my eagerness, had overlooked.
From "The Cruel Prince" by Holly Black
Investors wary of CoreWeave’s leverage levels may be overlooking the safeguards built into the company’s financing structures, Keirstead continued.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 23, 2026
There was one thing missing when a wealthy Missouri couple purchased their oceanfront home overlooking Camden Harbor in Maine: the million-dollar view.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 19, 2026
He hears them when walking through a nearby park overlooking Long Island Sound.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026
The BBC's Middle East correspondent Lucy Williamson reports from Ma'ale Adumim - an existing Israeli settlement in the occupied West Bank, overlooking Israel's proposed E1 site.
From BBC ● Sep. 8, 2026
Courtney pulls out his phone, turns on the little flashlight, and points it upward to illuminate the second-floor balcony overlooking the foyer.
From "Odd One Out" by Nic Stone
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
