Oversee

How to spell oversee

7 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce oversee

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does oversee mean?

1. verbTo watch over and direct work, a process, or a group of people, taking responsibility for how it is done.

Oversee in a sentence

• A senior manager will oversee the entire renovation project.

• The committee was set up to oversee how the budget is spent.

Where does oversee come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This is a native English word, built from the Old English ofersēon, which combined ofer, meaning 'over' or 'above', with sēon, meaning 'to see' or 'to look'. The earliest senses were quite literal, ranging from looking down upon something to looking over or surveying it, and the word at one time even carried the sense of failing to notice, much as 'overlook' can today. Over the centuries the dominant meaning settled into the idea of watching over work or people with authority, that is, supervising them. The two component parts have stayed transparent, which is why the spelling is simply 'over' joined to 'see', ending in a doubled e. The main spelling trap is remembering that final double e of 'see' and not confusing the word with the look-alike 'oversea' or 'overseas', which concern distant lands rather than supervision.

How the word is built

• over- (above, over)
• see (to look, watch)