Master confusing words with ease
Overlook vs. Oversee
Overlook
/ˌəʊvəˈlʊk/Examples:
We all overlooked him.Without overlooking anyone?Steggles overlooked him.
Synonyms:
Antonyms:
Oversee
/ˌəʊvəˈsiː/Examples:
She was hired to oversee the team of engineers.A manager must oversee the entire production process.The supervisor will oversee the interns' daily tasks.
Synonyms:
Antonyms:
Ways to tell them apart:
- Overlook often means to fail to notice something, like missing a detail, while oversee means you are actively supervising something to ensure it is done correctly.
- Imagine a person standing on a hill; if they overlook something, they might miss a small detail below, but if they oversee, they are watching and managing everything that happens below them.
- Use overlook when inadvertently missing or ignoring something, whereas oversee implies intention and attention in supervision.
- If you overlook something, it typically involves something negative, like a mistake, but if you oversee something, it implies positive involvement, like ensuring quality.
- Think of over in both words conveying a top position: look in overlook suggests failing to see from this position, see in oversee suggests clearly seeing and managing from above.
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