oversight

over- +‎ sight. Sense 2 is a semantic loan from German Aufsicht.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈəʊvəˌsaɪt/

  • Audio (Southern England)

    (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈoʊvɚˌsaɪt/
• (Scottish English) IPA^(key): /ˈo̝vərˌsaɪt/
• (Indian English) IPA^(key): /ˈoːbʱə(ɾ)ˌsaɪt/
• Homophone: overcite

oversight (countable and uncountable, plural oversights)

1. An omission; something that is left out, missed or forgotten.

   A small oversight at this stage can lead to big problems later.

2. Supervision or management.

   The bureaucracy was subject to government oversight.

   • 2013 August 10, “Can China clean up fast enough?”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8848:

     It has jailed environmental activists and is planning to limit the power of judicial oversight by handing a state-approved body a monopoly over bringing environmental lawsuits.

   • 2022 February 9, Tom Allett, “The BTP's eyes and ears in the air”, in RAIL, number 950, page 50:

     The drone operation is subject to strict regulatory oversight. Russell notes that due to UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) and privacy laws, BTP can only fly its drones if they have a named specific purpose to do so.

3. Overview.

   Coordinate term: undersight

   • 1908 December 10, Charles W. Wendte, “Foreign Books”, in The Christian Register:

     A large map of the kingdom, in which the Protestant churches, including the Unitarian, are indicated in colors, gives a convenient oversight of the matter treated of by the writer.

oversight (third-person singular simple present oversights, present participle oversighting, simple past and past participle oversighted)

1. (transitive, nonstandard) To oversee; to supervise.
2. (Internet, transitive, Wikimedia jargon) To suppress content in a way that removes or minimizes its visibility or viewability.

• oversighter