overseer

[oh-ver-see-er, -seer]

noun

1. a person who oversees; supervisor; manager.

   the overseer of a plantation.

   Synonyms: director, boss, head, chief

overseer

/ ˈəʊvəˌsiːə /

noun

1. Also called (less commonly): overlooker. a person who oversees others, esp workmen

2. history short for overseer of the poor; a minor official of a parish attached to the workhouse or poorhouse

Other Word Forms

• suboverseer noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of overseer¹

Middle English word dating back to 1350–1400; oversee, -er ¹

Example Sentences

Its new overseers were turning the screws to eliminate the practices that had made it a giant money-laundering mill.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

The comedian, who returned to host Monday nights in early 2024 after nearly a decade away, acknowledged recent tensions with the network’s new corporate overseers.

Read more on Salon

Pasta has been eaten in southern Italy since the Middle Ages, when Sicily’s Arab overseers introduced the drying of dough as a form of preservation, according to Amadei.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

The confused stowaway tried to hop away onto the freeway, but project overseer Robert Rock rescued the frog and released it at the top of the crossing.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Sun, however, had a problem: a deformed finger that slowed him down and drew the ire of his overseers.

Read more on Barron's

Related Words

• superintendent 
• supervisor