oversee
Americanverb (used with object)
-
to direct (work or workers); supervise; manage.
He was hired to oversee the construction crews.
-
to see or observe secretly or unintentionally.
We happened to oversee the burglar leaving the premises. He was overseen stealing the letters.
-
to survey or watch, as from a higher position.
-
to look over; examine; inspect.
verb
-
to watch over and direct; supervise
-
to watch secretly or accidentally
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
overseesimple
-
overseessimple
-
have overseenperfect
-
has overseenperfect
-
am overseeingprogressive
-
are overseeingprogressive
-
is overseeingprogressive
-
have been overseeingperfect progressive
-
has been overseeingperfect progressive
Past
-
oversawsimple
-
had overseenperfect
-
was overseeingprogressive
-
were overseeingprogressive
-
had been overseeingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of oversee
First recorded before 900; Middle English overseen, Old English ofersēon; equivalent to over- + see 1
Explanation
To oversee is to supervise or watch over, the way a principal oversees a school or a store manager oversees everyone who works there. This verb comes from the Old English oferseon, to "look down upon," which is also how oversee was originally used. You can say, "From this hill I oversee the whole town," but today it's much more common for oversee to mean supervise. If your Spanish club puts you in charge of the bake sale, you'll oversee everything: pricing the brownies, arranging cookies on a table, and reminding volunteers when to show up.
Vocabulary lists containing oversee
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.
Oversee Washington’s first loss to Oregon State in a decade?
From Seattle Times • Nov. 3, 2021
Dick Howard was a confident young college professor, only 34, when he got the assignment of a lifetime: Oversee the writing of a new constitution for Virginia.
From Washington Post • Jul. 1, 2021
Oversee their homework, bring them to the library, attend PTA meetings, call the teachers to get progress.
From New York Times • Dec. 18, 2017
His next task: Oversee AOL’s transformation from an Internet provider that subsists on subscription fees to a content company that makes most of its money from advertising.
From Time • Feb. 12, 2014
Oversee, ō-vėr-sē′, v.t. to see or look over, to superintend.—n.
From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 3 of 4: N-R) by Various
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.
