Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • transitive verb To watch over and direct; supervise.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To look over; superintend; overlook; take care of; look out for.
  • To revise.
  • To pass unheeded; omit; neglect; overlook.
  • To be tipsy; be intoxicated.
  • To omit or neglect to see; overlook.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • intransitive verb obsolete To see too or too much; hence, to be deceived.
  • transitive verb To superintend; to watch over; to direct; to look or see after; to overlook{2}.
  • transitive verb archaic To omit or neglect seeing; to overlook{5}.
  • transitive verb To see unintentionally or unexpectedly; -- the visual analogy to overhear.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb literally To survey, look at something in a wide angle.
  • verb figuratively To supervise, guide, review or direct the actions of a person or group.
  • verb To inspect, examine
  • verb obsolete To fail to see; to overlook, ignore.
  • verb To observe secretly or unintentionally.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb watch and direct

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

over- +‎ see

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Examples

  • This caseworker had about 100 cases to oversee, which is four times the recommended number.

    MAIL CALL 2007

  • And earlier in the week, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said that Biden would "oversee" Iraq policy and work with both the U.S. military and U.S.

    Hillary Clinton 'elbowed' aside? 2009

  • The "Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission" cannot succeed because the Secretary of the Treasury and the heads of the congressional committees that "oversee" the financial services industry don't want it to succeed.

    Joseph A. Palermo: Defiant Wall Street Welfare Kings Come to Washington 2010

  • So, they want to go back, the Obama team wants to go back, maybe put up -- set up a team inside Treasury to kind of oversee, provide some accountability.

    CNN Transcript Jan 9, 2009 2009

  • So, they want to go back, the Obama team wants to go back, maybe put up -- set up a team inside Treasury to kind of oversee, provide some accountability.

    CNN Transcript Jan 9, 2009 2009

  • Spin and hype and what's the odds that yet another bloody unelected quango gets set up to "oversee" the 70 million budget.

    Archive 2008-01-01 FIDO The Dog 2008

  • They were in the region particularly to kind of oversee and monitor the developments involving Pakistan and its elections.

    CNN Transcript Feb 21, 2008 2008

  • The state's Republican governor -- Sen. John McCain's number one Sunshine State buddy Charlie Crist -- said he would "oversee" a mail-in re-vote for Florida's more than five million Democrats.

    Ron Levitt: Florida Republicans Weigh In On Democratic Primary Do-over 2008

  • Then Congress responds by passing a law legalizing such break-ins, but with new committees to "oversee" the crimes in the future.

    Shayana Kadidal: Spying Smokescreens 2008

  • Yeah, I guess it would be a little gauche to try to "oversee" recovery efforts from the "ranch" while on vacation.

    August 2005 2005

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