Oversight

Oversight

Noun · /ˈəʊ.və.saɪt/

Definition

(1) Supervision and monitoring of a process, organisation, or person — watchful care and responsibility for ensuring things are done properly. (2) An unintentional failure to notice or do something — a mistake caused by not paying sufficient attention; something missed by accident.

Origin

From over- (above, from a superior position) + sight (the act of seeing — Old English sihþ, from seon, to see). Oversight therefore meaning both seeing from above — the supervisory sense — and failing to see at all — the error sense. The supervisory sense appearing from the fifteenth century: oversight of workers, parliamentary oversight. The error sense appearing from the sixteenth century: it was an oversight on my part, an unfortunate oversight. The two senses being technically antonyms — too much seeing versus not enough seeing — yet sharing the same word.