supervisor

American  

[soo-per-vahy-zer] / ˈsu pərˌvaɪ zər /

noun

• supervisors
  plural

1. 

   a person who supervises workers or the work done by others; superintendent.

2. Education. an official responsible for assisting teachers in the preparation of syllabuses, in devising teaching methods, etc., in a department of instruction, especially in public schools.

3. (in some U.S. states) the chief elected administrative officer of a township, who is often also a member of the governing board of the county.

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supervisor British  

/ ˈsuːpəˌvaɪzə /

noun

1. a person who manages or supervises

2. a foreman or forewoman

3. (in some British universities) a tutor supervising the work, esp research work, of a student

4. (in some US schools) an administrator running a department of teachers

5. (in some US states) the elected chief official of a township or other subdivision of a county

6. obsolete a spectator

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Usage

What does supervisor mean? A supervisor is someone who oversees and provides direction for someone or something. More simply, a supervisor is someone who supervises. It’s most commonly used in the context of the workplace to refer to a type of manager who supervises other employees. The adjective supervisory describes things that involve supervision. A supervisor’s role can be described as supervisory. Supervisor can be used more specifically in the context of education to refer to a type of official or tutor or in the context of government to refer to a type of elected local official who serves on a board with other supervisors. Example: The key to being a good supervisor is to give your employees enough space to do their jobs, instead of constantly standing over their shoulders.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• presupervisor
  noun
• supervisorship
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• supervisors
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of supervisor

1425–75; late Middle English < Medieval Latin supervīsor, equivalent to supervid-, stem of supervidēre to supervise + -tor -tor, with dt > s

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Explanation

A supervisor is the person in charge at your job, who monitors you as you work. Your supervisor prepared you for the world of sneaker sales, and makes sure you don't give them away free to your friends. To supervise means to oversee, so a supervisor is someone whose job it is to oversee everyone else as they work. If you're the supervisor of a big kitchen, you probably won't spend time chopping onions, but instead wander around making sure everyone has their hair back and is using the right ingredients and working quickly. Sometimes in very complex problems, a whole organization can be a supervisor, like a city department that oversees the police.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

supervisor supervisors

Mark Earley, the county’s supervisor of elections, told ProPublica he was “furious” when two marked U.S.

From Salon ● Nov. 3, 2026

The supervisor of New York City’s pension funds, one of the largest in the United States, asked Anthropic to postpone its stock market debut until risks posed by its artificial intelligence technology are better controlled.

From Barron's ● Oct. 15, 2026

Joe diGenova resigned as a supervisor of the probe, saying department officials pressured the team to bring criminal cases before they were ready.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 10, 2026

He searched for information about a deputy district attorney, a local county supervisor, and others in law enforcement without any “identifiable business need,” the audit said.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 8, 2026

On the other end Don Fabio must have made a joke because the American breaks out in laughter, then calls Checo to the phone so his supervisor can speak with him.

From "How the García Girls Lost Their Accents" by Julia Alvarez

“Do you have my commitment to eradicate deputy gangs? 100% you do,” Luna told the supervisors on Tuesday.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 10, 2026

Cargill plant managers and supervisors train workers on the processing line to scrape every ounce of valuable meat off the bone to boost their finances.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 10, 2026

Two years later, over Bass’ protest, the supervisors voted to pull nearly all of their money out of a joint city-county agency created to address the crisis.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 8, 2026

In voting to abandon the road elevation project, the supervisors directed county staff to immediately begin developing plans to reroute the road and to approach — and potentially negotiate with — land owners.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 29, 2026

They were not any of our regular workers, so they must have been supervisors or licensing inspectors.

From "Three Little Words: A Memoir" by Ashley Rhodes-Courter

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Related Words

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