Overlooking

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Not noticing or disregarding something important; positioned so as to have a view from above or overlook an area
2. Neglecting to observe or attend to something; situated in a way that provides a vantage point over a place
3. Omitting to recognize or consider a detail; located above and permitting a clear sight over a scene

Etymology: "Overlooking" is the present participle of "overlook", and the verb is a plain compound: "over" plus "look". Its Middle English ancestor, "overloken", was built the same way, and the two senses in play today follow from that literal picture. To look over something was to gaze down on it from above, so a building or hillside could be described as overlooking a valley, with a clear view across it. The sense of missing a detail grows from the same image. If you look over a page or a list rather than reading each line closely, you may skip past what is there. Looking over something, in the sense of surveying it, came to mean failing to take in part of it, and that sense of neglect eventually became the dominant meaning of the verb.

Synonyms: disregarding, ignoring, neglecting, overpassing, skipping

Antonyms: noticing, observing, acknowledging, recognizing, addressing