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:
Let me be clear: I love when people are passionate, even more so about things others tend to overlook.
From Slate ● Oct. 11, 2026
But critics say these programs generally focus on environmental crimes and overlook labor abuses on ships.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 9, 2026
They can also overlook Africa's huge informal sectors, which do not easily show up in official data, analysts say.
From Barron's ● Oct. 7, 2026
A Prevention of Future Deaths report into the death of Sophie Cotton in County Durham, external said the policy appeared to overlook that mental health teams could not enter locked premises.
From BBC ● Sep. 30, 2026
Halfway down was another overlook, a thin extra lane marked off less as an opportunity to gaze at the scenery, I thought, than to allow drivers a chance to stop and gather their wits.
From "Walk Two Moons" by Sharon Creech
Treating the Lawson criterion as a single unchanging threshold overlooks physical processes that can substantially alter the requirements for ignition.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 10, 2026
Supporters of Botswana's hunting policy, however, argue that international criticism often overlooks the costs borne by rural communities living alongside one of the world's biggest concentrations of elephants.
From BBC ● Sep. 30, 2026
But to do so overlooks the thrilling, genuinely thorny assertions contained in several of the season’s best films.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 19, 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
It overlooks a staggering amount of basic research to say that modern medicine began with the era of antibiotics.
From "The Lives of a Cell" by Lewis Thomas
But there’s another side of this that often gets overlooked — which, in fairness, you did address somewhat in your answer.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 14, 2026
In interviews and via his vanity cards he would, occasionally, rail against television critics, network censors, reality TV and the Television Academy, which consistently overlooked his series in the best comedy category.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 13, 2026
Tinker-Tsavalas uses macro photography to reveal the intricate details of tiny animals that are easily overlooked, particularly in urban habitats.
From BBC ● Oct. 13, 2026
However, the researchers suspected that something important was being overlooked: the microscopic chemical environment directly next to each electrode.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 12, 2026
The room was furnished and comfortable enough and overlooked the street, which was still reassuringly busy.
From "The Devil in the White City" by Erik Larson
Clarkson rejected the suggestion that supporting small businesses meant overlooking poor treatment.
From Salon ● Oct. 12, 2026
The discovery suggests that scientists have been overlooking important contributors to bacterial blotch.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 11, 2026
A widening gap between stock and bond volatility gauges suggests equities could be overlooking inflation, borrowing, and interest-rate risks.
From Barron's ● Oct. 7, 2026
Radio host Anatoliy Yatsechko jogs across a bridge to St. Volodymyr Hill, a park overlooking the city.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 4, 2026
“Glad to hear Unity Valley gossip lines are still overlooking the obvious stuff. God, you’d think Aimee Hall would have been all over that.”
From "Ask the Passengers" by A.S. King
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.
