English Dictionary

OVERLOOK

Pronunciation (US): Play  (GB): Play

IPA (US): 

 Dictionary entry overview: What does overlook mean? 

OVERLOOK (noun)
  The noun OVERLOOK has 1 sense:

1. a high place affording a good viewplay

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


OVERLOOK (verb)
  The verb OVERLOOK has 5 senses:

1. look past, fail to noticeplay

2. be oriented in a certain directionplay

3. leave undone or leave outplay

4. look down onplay

5. watch overplay

  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)

 Conjugation: 
Present simple: I / you / we / they overlook  Listen to US pronunciation  Listen to GB pronunciation ... he / she / it overlooks  Listen to US pronunciation  Listen to GB pronunciation
Past simple: overlooked  Listen to US pronunciation  Listen to GB pronunciation
Past participle: overlooked  Listen to US pronunciation  Listen to GB pronunciation
-ing form: overlooking  Listen to US pronunciation  Listen to GB pronunciation


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)



 Learn English with... Proverbs 
"In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king." (English proverb)

"The rain falls yonder, but the drops strike here." (Bhutanese proverb)

"If the wind comes from an empty cave, it's not without a reason." (Chinese proverb)

"A closed mouth catches neither flies nor food." (Corsican proverb)



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