OVERLOOK

Pronunciation (US):

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IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does overlook mean? 

• OVERLOOK (noun)
  The noun OVERLOOK has 1 sense:

1. a high place affording a good view

  Familiarity information: OVERLOOK used as a noun is very rare.

• OVERLOOK (verb)
  The verb OVERLOOK has 5 senses:

1. look past, fail to notice

2. be oriented in a certain direction

3. leave undone or leave out

4. look down on

5. watch over

  Familiarity information: OVERLOOK used as a verb is common.

 Dictionary entry details 

• OVERLOOK (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A high place affording a good view

Classified under:

Nouns denoting spatial position

Hypernyms ("overlook" is a kind of...):

place; spot; topographic point (a point located with respect to surface features of some region)

Derivation:

overlook (look down on)

overlook (be oriented in a certain direction)

• OVERLOOK (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they overlook    ... he / she / it overlooks   
Past simple: overlooked   
Past participle: overlooked   
-ing form: overlooking   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Look past, fail to notice

Classified under:

Verbs of seeing, hearing, feeling

Hypernyms (to "overlook" is one way to...):

lose; miss (fail to perceive or to catch with the senses or the mind)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody

Sense 2

Meaning:

Be oriented in a certain direction

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Synonyms:

look across; look out on; look out over; overlook

Context example:

The apartment overlooks the Hudson

Hypernyms (to "overlook" is one way to...):

lie (be located or situated somewhere; occupy a certain position)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s something

Derivation:

overlook (a high place affording a good view)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Leave undone or leave out

Classified under:

Verbs of thinking, judging, analyzing, doubting

Synonyms:

drop; leave out; miss; neglect; omit; overleap; overlook; pretermit

Context example:

The workers on the conveyor belt miss one out of ten

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "overlook"):

forget (forget to do something)

jump; pass over; skip; skip over (bypass)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Somebody ----s to INFINITIVE

Sense 4

Meaning:

Look down on

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Synonyms:

command; dominate; overlook; overtop

Context example:

The villa dominates the town

Hypernyms (to "overlook" is one way to...):

lie (be located or situated somewhere; occupy a certain position)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "overlook"):

dwarf; overshadow; shadow (make appear small by comparison)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s something

Derivation:

overlook (a high place affording a good view)

Sense 5

Meaning:

Watch over

Classified under:

Verbs of seeing, hearing, feeling

Context example:

I am overlooking her work

Hypernyms (to "overlook" is one way to...):

survey (look over carefully or inspect)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody

 Context examples 

It was in the chamber of the rifle and he had overlooked it.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

“Never mind,” said Holmes, laughing; “it is my business to know things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?”

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

She was sitting on a seat at one end of a kind of terrace, overlooking the great city.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

The lady who built the new part of this house as that tablet records, and whose son overlooks and directs everything here.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

With real affection, Fanny, like mine, more might be overlooked.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

Elizabeth had turned from him, Lady Russell overlooked him; her nerves were strengthened by these circumstances; she felt that she owed him attention.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

Ah! then you must have overlooked it.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

To think that I should have overlooked you!

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

“Our friend will overlook the matter if you do but say that you have acted in heat and haste.”

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

For some time I sat upon the rock that overlooks the sea of ice.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)