Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- transitive verb To look over or at from a higher place.
- transitive verb To afford a view over.
- transitive verb To fail to notice or consider; miss.
- transitive verb To ignore deliberately or indulgently; disregard.
- transitive verb To look over; examine.
- transitive verb To manage; supervise.
- noun An elevated place that affords an extensive view.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A strong-growing leguminous twining plant of the tropics, Canavalia ensiformis.
- To look over; view from a higher place; see from a higher position.
- To rise or be elevated above; rise so high as to afford the means of looking down on.
- To view fully; look over; peruse; read.
- To keep an eye on; inspect; superintend; oversee; care for or watch over.
- To look beyond or by so as to fail to see, or so as to disregard or neglect; pay no attention to; disregard; hence, to pass over indulgently; excuse; forbear to punish or censure.
- To bewitch by looking on; confound; unsettle.
- A coined word used in the textile and other similar trades to describe a stitch made by a sewing-machine which, on the cut edge of a single thickness of material, or in joining the edges of two pieces of material, makes covering stitches which conceal the otherwise projecting thread-ends, and at the same time locks the stitches so as to give strength to the artificial selvage or seam thus made; also applied to the machine which makes this artificial selvage or over-seam.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- transitive verb To look down upon from a place that is over or above; to look over or view from a higher position; to be situated above, so as to command a view of.
- transitive verb Hence: To supervise; to watch over; sometimes, to observe secretly
- transitive verb To inspect; to examine; to look over carefully or repeatedly.
- transitive verb Obs. or Prov. Eng. To look upon with an evil eye; to bewitch by looking upon; to fascinate.
- transitive verb To look over and beyond (anything) without seeing it; to miss or omit in looking; to fail to notice; to fail to observe.
- transitive verb To refrain from bestowing notice or attention upon; to disregard or deliberately ignore; to pass over without censure or punishment; to excuse or pardon (a fault, error, or misdeed).
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- verb To
look down upon from a place that is over or above; to look over or view from a higher position; to rise above, so as to command a view of - verb Hence: To
supervise ; to watch over; sometimes, to observe secretly - verb To
inspect ; to examine; to look over carefully or repeatedly. - verb To look upon with an evil eye; to bewitch by looking upon; to fascinate.
- verb To fail to
notice ; tolook over and beyond (anything) without seeing it; tomiss oromit in looking. - verb To pretend not to have
noticed , especially a mistake; to pass over without censure or punishment.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb look down on
- noun a high place affording a good view
- verb be oriented in a certain direction
- verb look past, fail to notice
- verb watch over
- verb leave undone or leave out
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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What anti-theists overlook is the possibility that a religious law could have a practical basis for it.
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What anti-theists overlook is the possibility that a religious law could have a practical basis for it.
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What people often overlook is the fact that Apple puts MASSIVE consumer advertising behind the iPhone and the app store as well.
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What anti-theists overlook is the possibility that a religious law could have a practical basis for it.
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When discussing how ‘generous’ the police pension is, what detractors often overlook is that it is not a ‘free’, non-contributory pension, like say, the forces.
We Are So Unpopular That Everyone Wants To Join SHOCK! « POLICE INSPECTOR BLOG Inspector Gadget 2010
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What most individuals tend to overlook is the fact that even the walls offer a great way of expanding their storage options.
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But what they overlook is that macho monetarism only works to stimulate demand, investment and jobs under certain conditions? and early post-recession Britain doesn't fit the bill.
Construction gives UK economic recovery an unstable foundation Phillip Inman 2010
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I think what you overlook is this: human ingenuity needs freedom.
Coyote Blog » Blog Archive » The Narrow-Mindedness of Zero-Sum Thinking 2009
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The thing people overlook is that the Constitution not only contains substantive provisions, but procedural ones.
The Volokh Conspiracy » Would “Deem & Pass” Survive Judicial Review? 2010
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The problem that those of us in the world of technology overlook is that most people are using systems that are miserably unsuited to their needs.
oroboros commented on the word overlook
Contronymic in the sense: look at, view spot vs. gap in perception.
January 31, 2007