Overlook

Part of speech: verb

Pronunciation: /ˈəʊ.vəˌlʊk/

Definitions

1. To fail to notice something or to have a view from above a place
2. To disregard or neglect to recognize something important ; to supervise or oversee a task or activity ; to provide a vantage point above or near a location
3. To miss noticing or pay insufficient attention to details ; to act as a person in charge or a manager of an operation ; to be situated above and have a view over an area

Etymology: "Overlook" is a compound built from "over" and "look", and its oldest sense was physical rather than mental. To look over something was to examine it from above or across it, and the Middle English form "overloken" carried that literal sense of gazing down on or across a scene. Over time the idea of looking across a thing gave way to the idea of looking past it, so that the eye skipped over what it should have caught. The modern sense of failing to notice is a figurative extension of that movement: the attention passes across something without stopping on it.

Synonyms: miss, ignore, disregard, neglect, bypass

Antonyms: notice, acknowledge, consider