Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.

Definition: Overlook |
OverlookNoun1. A high place affording a good view. Verb1. Look past, fail to notice. 2. Be oriented in a certain direction; "The house looks out on a tennis court"; "The apartment overlooks the Hudson". 3. Leave undone or leave out; "How could I miss that typo?"; "The workers on the conveyor belt miss one out of ten". 4. Look down on; "The villa dominates the town". 5. Watch over. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "overlook" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1258. (references) |
Note: Overlook \O`ver*look"\, transitive verb. [imperative past participle Overlooked; present participle verb or noun Overlooking.]. (references) |
| Domain | Definition |
Tips from 1870 | Usage: Overlook, Oversee. This word means to look down upon from a place that is over or above; as, "From the top of the Washington monument you can readily overlook the city." But it also means to look over and beyond an object in order to see a second object, thus missing the view of the first object; hence, to refrain from bestowing notice upon, to neglect. The confounding of these two ideas begets ambiguity, as "Brown's business was to overlook the workmen in the shop." His business was to oversee or superintend them, and not to neglect or overlook them. Source: Slips of Speech. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
Synonyms: OverlookSynonyms: command (v), dominate (v), drop (v), leave out (v), look across (v), look out on (v), look out over (v), miss (v), neglect (v), omit (v), overleap (v), overtop (v), pretermit (v). (additional references) |
| Antonym: attend to (v). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Direction | Superintend, supervise; overlook, control, keep in order, look after, see to, legislate for; administer, ministrate; matronize; have the care of, have the charge of; be in charge of, have charge of, take the direction; boss, boss one around; pull the strings, pull the wires; rule; (command); have the direction, hold office, hold the portfolio; preside, preside at the board; take the chair, occupy the chair, be in the chair; pull the stroke oar. |
Disrespect | Verb: hold in disrespect; (despise); misprize, disregard, slight, trifle with, set at naught, pass by, push aside, overlook, turn one's back upon, laugh in one's sleeve; be disrespectful; Adjective:, be discourteous; treat with disrespect;Noun: set down, put down, browbeat. |
Forgiveness | Verb: forgive, forgive and forget; pardon, condone, think no more of, let bygones be bygones, shake hands; forget an injury. excuse, pass over, overlook; wink at; (neglect); bear with; allow for, make allowances for; let one down easily, not be too hard upon, pocket the affront. |
Inattention | Verb: be inattentive; Adjective: overlook, disregard; pass by; (neglect) not observe; think little of. |
Indiscrimination | Verb: not discriminate; overlook; (neglect) a distinction: confound, confuse. |
Neglect | Overlook, disregard; pass over, pas by; let pass; blink; wink at, connive at;gloss over; take no note of, take no thought of, take no account of, take no notice of; pay no regard to; laisser aller. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Overlook |
| English words defined with "overlook": broad-mindedness ♦ Gley ♦ Overgaze ♦ Pardon me ♦ readiness ♦ set ♦ To find fault, To hide the face from, To lose sight of, To put up, To put up with. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "overlook": Cemetery ♦ Devil looking Over Lincoln ♦ man ♦ TO TOWER ♦ WHANGDEPOOTENAWAH. (references) |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | About the Overlook Hotel (The Shining; writing credit: Stanley Kubrick) Let's not overlook the fact that he didn't eat me. (Lake Placid; writing credit: David E. Kelley) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title |
Books | |
Theater & Movies | |
Music |
|
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
![]() | Cave Rock overlook at Lake Tahoe White 1 and 1/2 ton truck Astro party of C.V. Hodgson. Credit: Coast & Geodetic Survey Historical Image Collection. | ![]() | Westend Road overlook of Fortuna Bay. Credit: America's Coastlines. |
Aspen overlook on Mount Lemmon in the Coronado National Forest the first day of evacuee reentry following the Bullock Fire. Credit: Unknown. | RecreationScenicBikerShoshone Field OfficeUSRDUpper Snake River DistrictBald Mountain TrailKetchum Overlook. Credit: Karen Wattenmaker. | ||
(left-right) Roaring Springs Ranch manager Stacy Davies, Secretary Babbitt, Elaine Zielinski, and Governor Kitzhaber at Big Indian Gorge overlook. Credit: Mark Armstrong & Chris Strebig. | Stacie Davies, the manager of Roaring Springs Ranch, and Secretary Bruce Babbitt at Big Indian Gorge overlook. Credit: Mark Armstrong & Chris Strebig. | ||
Overlook into mountainous area. Mahogany & Unit. Credit: Unknown. | Kiger Gorge Overlook. Credit: Harmon. | ||
Quarry Cove overlook wall at Yaquina Head. Credit: BLM. | The Wedge Overlook, San Rafael Swell. Credit: Jerry Sintz. | ||
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
![]() | ![]() |
| "Overlook" by Michelle Kwajafa Commentary: "A blurry building is being constructed in the background." | "Girl poses for shot" by Kevin Rohr Commentary: "Girl stands atop Ledges overlook." |
Source: photographs selected by the editor, with permission from the photographers. | |
| Author | Quotation |
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. | Philanthropy is commendable, but it must not cause the philanthropist to overlook the circumstances of economic injustice which make philanthropy necessary. |
Samuel Johnson | What ever the motive for the insult, it is always best to overlook it; for folly doesn't deserve resentment, and malice is punished by neglect. |
William James | Wisdom is learning what to overlook. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | |
| Author | Date | Quotation |
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. | 1963 | It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment and to underestimate the determination of the Negro. (Delivered on the steps at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. on August 28, 1916) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Health | Therefore, it is important that physicians carefully analyze all "pituitary tumors" removed from patients with acromegaly in order not to overlook the possibility that a tumor elsewhere in the body is causing the disorder. (references) | |
Business | As a result and similar to the United States, supermarkets and other food stores are selling more precooked, ready-to-eat meals that people can pick up on their way home from work. Although precise figures are not available, the phenomenon, though not as widespread as in the United States, is catching on fast and is creating a market niche which U.S. manufacturers of commercial cooking equipment should not overlook. (references) | |
Economic History | Sweden | But don't overlook the Old Economy - Saab just announced that it will build the wings for the super-jumbo Airbus. (references) |
Portugal | Most importers and distributors have offices in Porto and US firms looking to appoint a distributor in Portugal should not overlook this fact. (references) | |
Bahrain | BATELCO Middle East E.C. (BMEC) was formed and incorporated in 1998 as a holding company for BATELCO to overlook and manage its overseas investment. (references) | |
Travel | Taiwan | Foreign visitors should not overlook the fragrant teas for which Taiwan is justly famous. (references) |
Lexicography | Devil's Dictionary | MAN, n. An animal so lost in rapturous contemplation of what he thinks he is as to overlook what he indubitably ought to be. His chief occupation is extermination of other animals and his own species, which, however, multiplies with such insistent rapidity as to infest the whole habitable earh and Canada. When the world was young and Man was new, And everything was pleasant, Distinctions Nature never drew 'Mongst kings and priest and peasant. We're not that way at present, Save here in this Republic, where We have that old regime, For all are kings, however bare Their backs, howe'er extreme Their hunger. And, indeed, each has a voice To accept the tyrant of his party's choice. A citizen who would not vote, And, therefore, was detested, Was one day with a tarry coat (With feathers backed and breasted) By patriots invested. "It is your duty," cried the crowd, "Your ballot true to cast For the man o' your choice." He humbly bowed, And explained his wicked past: "That's what I very gladly would have done, Dear patriots, but he has never run." Apperton Duke |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| Speaker | Term | Phrase(s) |
Andrew Jackson | 1829-1837 | In yielding themselves to this fallacy they overlook the great considerations in which the Federal Constitution was founded. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| "Overlook" is generally used as a lexical verb (infinitive) -- approximately 73.37% of the time. "Overlook" is used about 353 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Lexical Verb (infinitive) | 73.37% | 259 | 18,370 |
| Lexical Verb (base form) | 24.93% | 88 | 35,154 |
| Noun (singular) | 1.7% | 6 | 143,867 |
| Total | 100.00% | 353 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
| Hyphenated Usage | |
Beginning with "overlook": Overlook-Page Manor. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Language | Translations for "overlook"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Afrikaans | agterweë laat (fail, leave, leave out, neglect, omit). (various references) | |
Albanian | vë re (behold, bend, cognize, descry, espy, notice, reck, remark), shoh mbi, shoh (behold, catch a glimpse of, catch sight of, descry, eye, give a look, look, see, sight, view, witness), shikoj (eye, glance, glance over, keep an eye on, look, see, sight, take a gander, take a look at, view, watch), nuk vë re (disregard, look over, Miss, overpass, pass by, pass over, pretermit), nuk shoh, ngrihem (ascend, get up, jump, proceed, raise, regelate, revolt, rise, stand, stand up, stand up to, take off, take wing, tower, turn out, upheave), mbikëqyr (oversee, supervise, watch), marr me sy, lartësohem (arise, ascend, mount up, soar, tower), ka pamje nga, gogësij (eructate, gape, Keck, miss one's chance, yawn), dal në. (various references) | |
Arabic | نسى (cause to forget, forget, leave, miss, omit, sink, slur, unlearn), غفل عن, تغاضى (condone, connive, disregard, excuse, forget, look over, part with, pass, pass over, slur, wink), سحر (attractiveness, bedevil, bewitch, bewitchment, catch, charm, conjure, diablerie, enamor, enamour, enchantment, fascinate, fascination, glamor, glamour, incantation, infatuation, loveliness, magic, magnetize, matinee, mesmerize, necromancy, pleasantness, prestige, quaintness, ravishment, relish, smite, sorcery, spell, spellbind, temptation, weirdness, witch, witchcraft, witchery, wiz, wizardry, zest), طل (dew, dominate, look out), أهمل (be negligent, default, desert, discount, disregard, forsake, go by the board, lapse, lay aside, lay by, leave out, neglect, omit, pass, pass over smth., scorn, set apart, skive, slight, throwaway), أصاب بالعين, أشرف على (overhang, oversee, preside, supervise), راقب (blue pencil, case, close, control, keep an eye on, look, look after, look on, mind, monitor, observe, oversee, proctor, spy, stake, superintend, supervise, tend, watch). (various references) | |
Bulgarian | урочасвам, гледам със снизхождение на, гледам от високо място, гледам (eye, gape, lamp, look, look at, look on, look out, look through, manage, mind, nurse, open, point, regard, see, see into, tend, view, watch), отминавам (pass by, pass on, pass over, subside), недоглеждам, не забелязвам (pass over), надзиравам (inspect, manage, oversee, stand over, superintend, supervise), затварям си очите за, прощавам (absolve, excuse, forgive, pardon), пропускам (admit, drop, fail, let in, let slip by, lose, neglect, omit, overleap, overpass, pass over, pass up, run, skip, throw away), пренебрегвам (disregard, flaunt, flout, ignore, laugh at, lay aside, neglect, overpass, pass over, pass up, pretermit, put by, shrug off, sink, sit on, slight, wave aside, wave away), игнорирам (blink, cold shoulder, cushion, ignore, set aside), извинявам (excuse, justify, palliate, pardon), издигам се над (overtop, surmount). (various references) | |
Chinese | 俯视 (Overlooked, Overlooking), 俯視 . (various references) | |
Czech | prozkoumat (analyse, examine, explore, go into, go through, inspect, look into, probe, reconnoitre, scan, scrutinize, survey), prozkoumání (examination), prominout (condone, excuse, forgive, palliate, pardon, remit), prohlédnout (examine, go through, inspect, Miss, peruse, review, test, visit), přehlédnutí (goby, oversight, revision, slip), přehlédnout (look over, revise, survey), nedbat. (various references) | |
Danish | udelade (leave out, omit, release). (various references) | |
Dutch | verzaken (abjure, abnegate, leave out, neglect, omit), uitlaten (leave out, let off, omit, release), nalaten (bequeath, fail, leave, leave behind, leave out, make a will, neglect, omit). (various references) | |
Esperanto | preterlasi (leave out, omit). (various references) | |
Farsi | مسلطیامشرف بودن بر, چشم پوشی کردن (Connive), چشم انداز (Landscape, Lookout, Outlook, Panorama, Perspective, Prospect, Scene, Scenery, View, Vista). (various references) | |
Finnish | sivuuttaa (go by, pass, supersede, supplant), ei huomata (take no notice). (various references) | |
French | oublier, omettre (pass over), surveiller (oversee), poste d'observation, porter atteinte par yeux, point d'observation, passer sur (paper over), négliger (pass over, pass over smth.), laisser passer, laisser échapper, fermer les yeux sur, donner sur, avoir vue sur. (various references) | |
Frisian | weilitte (leave out, omit). (various references) | |
German | überschauen (grasp, to overlook). (various references) | |
Greek | παραβλέπω (condone, disregard, ignore, let it pass, make allowances for, oversee, pass by, slight). (various references) | |
Hebrew | לעמעם (blur, darken, dim, mute, obscure, tarnish), לחלוש על (command, dominate), להתעלם (disregard, ignore, neglect, override, pass over, vanish), להשקף על (be seen, be visible), להעלים עין (connive, turn a blind eye). (various references) | |
Hungarian | lenéz (look down on, talk down to, to contemn, to despise, to disdain, to disparage, to scorn), felügyel (inspect, invigilate, oversee, superintend, supervise, to control, to mind, to see after, to superintend, to supervise, to tend), elkerüli figyelmét. (various references) | |
Indonesian | pangling (fail to recognize), memandang ke bawah, memaafkan (condone), melupakan (bury, forget). (various references) | |
Italian | trascurare (disdain, disobey, disregard, ignore, neglect, omit, skip), tollerare (abide, bear, endure, put, put up with, stand, stomach, suffer, support, tolerate), sovrastare (be imminent, forthcoming, hang over, overhang, overtop, stand above, surpass, to be imminent, to be in store, to impend, top), sorvegliare (guard, look after, oversee, supervise, survey, watch, watch over), non rilevare, lasciarsi sfuggire (slip off), ispezionare (inspect, oversee, survey, visit), guardare dall'alto, godere la vista di, dominare (be on top of things, command, control, control oneself, curb, dominate, govern, Lord, master, order, overbear, overmaster, overrule, predominate, restrain, rule, subdue, sway, walk over), controllare (audit, check, check up on, command, control, control oneself, examine, govern, inspect, monitor, school, supervise, verify, vet). (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | 見落し , 見落 , 目溢し (connivance). (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | めこぼし (connivance), みおとし (oversight, thing left unnoticed). (various references) | |
Korean | 바라보십시요. (various references) | |
Manx | jeeaghyn neose er, jarrood (forget, forgetfulness, leave out, oblivion, reverie). (various references) | |
Pig Latin | overlookay.(various references) | |
Portuguese | omitir (default, dele, elide, expurgate, forget, leave out, omit, overjump, overleap, pretermit). (various references) | |
Romanian | omite (balk, baulk, forget, jump, leave, neglect, omit, pretermit, retrench), vedea de sus, trece cu vederea peste, supraveghea (chaperon, direct, keep under, keep watch, look after, manage, observe, oversee, see, superintend, supervise, watch), se ridica deasupra, privi de sus (look down), nu vedea, nu rãsplãti, examina (canvass, comb, consider, contemplate, debate, examine, explore, go over, inspect, investigate, look at, look over, observe, overhaul, peer, pry into, quiz, review, scout, scrutinize, search, study, talk over, verify, view, visit, weigh), domina (command, dominate, get the upper hand, govern, have the upper hand, hold dominion over, rule, sway), cerceta (analyse, analyze, anatomize, ask, canvass, case, consider, consult, cross-question, delve, dip into, examine, excogiate, explore, inspect, introspect, investigate, look at, look into, look over, look through, peer, pursue, question, reconnoitre, research, screen, scrutinize, search, search into, seek, sift, sound, study, survey, test, try, visit), avea grijã de (administer to, care, care for, carry, keep, look after, look towards, mind, nurse, see, see after, take care of), a-i scãpa (escape notice), ţine:. (various references) | |
Russian | смотреть сверху вниз (look down), следить (follow up, keep track, keep track of, look after, trace, track, watch), выходить окнами (front), возвышаться (dominate, spring, tower), обозревать (review, survey), недосмотреть, недоглядеть (fail to observe), не заметить (look over), надзирать (oversee, supervise), просмотреть, прощать (absolve, condone, excuse, forgave, forgive, forgiven, release, remit), пропустить (give the right of way, leave out, miss out), игнорировать;недооценивать (overlooked). (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | prevideti (fail to observe, lose sight of), preći preko (climb over), ne obazirati se (disregard). (various references) | |
Spanish | vigilar (follow, guard, keep, keep an eye on, look, look after, mind, patrol, police, trace, trail, watch, watch over), pasar por alto (disregard, gloss over, ignore, jump, pass by, pass over), examinar (consider, examine, explore, go into, go over, go through, inquire, inquire into, inspect, look at, look into, look over, look through, observe, ponder, probe, quiz, rake, review, search, study, talk out, tempt, test, vet, view), dominar (control, dominate, get over, govern, henpeck, keep down, Lord, master, overlord, overpower, overrule, possess, put down, subdue, subject, take over), dar (accord, be in, bear, begin, cause, deal, feed on, gift, give, give off, go for, grow, hand, lecture, lend, matter, perform, play, present, produce, prolong, put on, say, shine, show, start, surrender, take, take to, teach, to give, turn on, yield). (various references) | |
Swedish | förbise (Miss), överse med (condone). (various references) | |
Turkish | yüksekten bakmak, saymamak (bar, count out, disallow, disregard, disrespect, leave out of account, not to count, not to take into account, take no account of), nazar değdirmek, nazır olmak (dominate), hoşgörmek (connive, excuse, indulge, look with favour on, permit of, tolerate), gözden kaçırmak, göz yummak (blink, blink at, condone, connive, excuse, face up to, have, leave unnoticed, let smth. pass unchallenged, pass by, permit of, suffer, tolerate, wink, wink at), görmemezlikten gelmek (blink, blink at, close one's eyes to, connive, cut, cut smb. dead, dissemble, give smb. the go-by, look through, overpass, pass off, pretend not to see, turn a blind eye, wink at), bakmak (answer, attend, behold, care for, concern oneself, consider, consult, deem, do for, face, feed, fend for, find, Foster, front, front on to, give a look, groom, have a frontage on, have a look-see, keep, look, look after, look at, look on, look out, look through, look upon, maintain, make sure, nurse, put out to nurse, refer, regard, scan, see, see to, set eyes on, sight, sit in, suckle, superintend, supervise, support, survey, take a gander, take a look, take a look at, tend, turn up, view, wait on, wait upon, watch). (various references) | |
Ukrainian | не надавати значення, дивитися крізь пальці, доглядати (attend, care, see after, tend), панувати над містом, пропуск (chasm, hiatus, non-sequence, omission, out, skip, vacancy), пропускати (balk, drop out, leave out, let by, let through, miss out, omit, outlet, overjump, overleap, pass over, pass through, skip, waste), прощати (absolve, amnesty, excuse, pardon, remit), зневажати (cold shoulder, невимушенІсть [f], desecrate, despise, disdain, disregard, ignore, misprise, misprize, neglect, override, scorn, scout, spit, violate), наврочити (bedevil, witch), дивитися згори на щось, не звертати уваги (brush aside, let things slide, neglect), стежити за чимсь, недооцінювати (disparage, lessen, misjudge, misprise, misprize, underestimate, underrate, undervalue), недогляд (default, dereliction, erratum, inadvertence, inadvertency, neglect, negligence, omission, oversight), огляд (checkup, conspectus, examination, exploring, inspection, notice, recension, review, revue, survey, visit), огляд околиць з висоти, оглядати (case, notice, see, survey, view), виходити на (front, open), височіти над містом, ігнорувати (balk, brush aside, defy, disregard, dissemble, eliminate, ignore, neglect, overjump, overleap), не помічати (neglect). (various references) | |
Vietnamese | sự quan sát từ trên cao. (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | coierit, coierunt, coniventes, despecta, despecto, ignoro, praetermittas, praetermitteret. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "overlook": overlooked, overlooking, overlooks. (additional references) | |
| |
"Overlook" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: everlook, oerlikon, overfloor, overlock, Overloon. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "overlook" (pronounced ō"verluh'k) |
| 3 | -l uh' k | outlook. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "e-k-l-o-o-o-r-v" | |
-2 letters: looker, relook. | |
-3 letters: lover, ovolo. | |
-4 letters: koel, kolo, kore, levo, look, lore, love, oleo, orle, over, role, rook, rove, vole. | |
-5 letters: elk, kor, lek, lev, loo, oke, ole, ore, rev, roe, voe. | |
| Words containing the letters "e-k-l-o-o-o-r-v" | |
+1 letter: overlooks. | |
+2 letters: overlooked. | |
+3 letters: overlooking. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Images: Slideshow 7. Images: Photo Album 8. Images: Digital Art | 9. Quotations: Familiar 10. Quotations: Historic 11. Quotations: Non-fiction 12. Quotations: Speeches | 13. Usage Frequency 14. Expressions 15. Expressions: Internet 16. Translations: Modern | 17. Translations: Ancient 18. Derivations 19. Rhymes 20. Anagrams | 21. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.