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
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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:
I pivoted back to the overlook, where a beautiful white ibis was hunting for frogs.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026
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
It will be located on the former site of the Golden Bear Theatre and will overlook the recently refurbished kiddie area, Looney Tunes Land.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 10, 2026
They are astonishingly adaptable and, perhaps for exactly that reason, easy to overlook.
From Salon ● Sep. 7, 2026
They behaved as though it were an awful sin to overlook even one of those unspoken rules and step out of “their place,” to cross some invisible line.
From "Warriors Don't Cry: A Searing Memoir of the Battle to Integrate Little Rock's Central High" by Melba Pattillo Beals
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
The Bus Yard bar in Crosby, which overlooks the beach, has said it will be open during the course of the eclipse and will be hosting live music.
From BBC ● Aug. 10, 2026
Peeta, Cinna, and Portia are standing out on a balcony that overlooks the Capitol when we enter the dining room.
From "The Hunger Games" by Suzanne Collins
The most likely explanation is that some subtle experimental effect has been overlooked.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 20, 2026
Across town, Independent 20th Century, now being staged in the Breuer Building, highlights overlooked artists from the past century as well as less-studied aspects of well-known creators’ careers.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 20, 2026
While Maddy's relationships and wellbeing were scrutinised, Olivia says she felt Maddy herself, and who she was away from the pitch, was overlooked.
From BBC ● Sep. 19, 2026
There’s no way the Television Academy could have overlooked Steve Carell’s unflinching performance in NBC’s “The Office.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 14, 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
But they did not yet hold any areas directly overlooking Bab al-Mandab.
From Barron's ● Sep. 11, 2026
In the weeks afterward, people returned to offices overlooking the smoky ruins.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 11, 2026
Mendocino, dominated by Victorian and New England-style saltbox houses, is built on bluffs overlooking the Pacific and surrounded by dramatic coast and forest.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 8, 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
On an overlooking hill was the turreted mansion occupied by the company general superintendent, a man sent down by our owners in Ohio to keep an eye on their assets.
From "October Sky" by Homer Hickam
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.
