Dictionary

supervise en · VERB

Pronunciation

• (Southern-England) audio
• [ˈsʉː.pə.vɑe̯z] (New-Zealand)
• /ˈsʉː.pə.vɑez/ (Australia)
• /ˈsu.pɚˌvaɪz/ (Canada, General-American)
• /ˈsuː.pə.vaɪz/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• /ˈsʉː.pə.vaɪz/ (New-Zealand)

Etymology

Borrowed from Medieval Latin supervisus, from supervidere, from Latin super + videre. Doublet of survey.

Meanings

1. (transitive) To oversee or direct (a task or organization).
   • Nothing was too small to receive attention, if a supervising eye could suggest improvements likely to conduce to the common welfare. Mr. Gordon Burnage, for instance, personally visited dust-bins and back premises, accompanied by a sort of village bailiff, going his round like a commanding officer doing billets. 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XIX, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
   • Without someone to supervise them, the group will lack direction.
   • The knowledge worker may have a supervisor, but he or she is never supervised in the same way that a manual or process worker is supervised. 2017, David I. Ben-Tovim, Process Redesign for Health Care Using Lean Thinking, →ISBN:
   • […] grievability-arbitrability cases; supervises the conduct of representation elections; and holds hearings as […] 1976, United States Senate Committee on Appropriations, Subcommittee on Departments of Labor, and Health, Education, and Welfare, and Related Agencies, Departments of Labor and Health, Education, and Welfare and Related Agencies Appropriations for Fiscal Year 1977: Hearings Before a Subcommittee of the Committee on Appropriations, United States Senate, Ninety-fourth Congress, Second Session, page 256:
   • Strong personal government is, I believe, the only form of government possible in Kashmir for many years to come, but it is difficult for the Maharajas to supervise the administration of the valley when they are away in their winter capital Jammu. 1895, Sir Walter Roper Lawrence, The Valley of Kashmir, page 3:
   • I had learned a lot about supervising by observing other supervisors—the good things and the not-so-good things they did. 2012, Kathryn M. Johnson, The Insider's Guide to Supervising Government Employees:
   • While both the Northeast and the Korean Peninsula were under the jurisdiction of Ho-pei Province, a Protectorate of An-tung was established at P'ing-jang to supervise the Peninsular states and two High Commanders were stationed at You-chou and P'ing-lu[…] 1934, Tung Chi Lin, Chinese Expansion to the Northeast: Methods and Mechanisms, University of California, →OCLC, page 37:
2. (intransitive) To oversee a task, organization, etc.; to provide supervision; to act as a supervisor.
   • Under the Medicare Benefits Schedule, doctors can’t claim payment from the government for a Covid-19 vaccination provided in their clinic by a nurse, unless a GP is on the premises to supervise. 2022 August 1, Melissa Davey, “NSW town’s pop-up Covid vaccine clinic almost called off because of ‘ridiculous’ Medicare rule”, in The Guardian:
3. (obsolete, transitive) To look over so as to read; to peruse.
   • If any Man for that reaſon has an Inclination to divert himſelf, and Sail with me round the Globe, to ſuperviſe almoſt all the Conditions of Humane Life, without being infected with the Vanities, and Vices that attend such a Whimſical Perambulation; let him follow me, who am going to Relate it in a Stile, and Language, proper to the Variety of the Subject: For as the Caprichio came Naturally into my Pericranium, I am reſolv’d to purſue it through Thick and Thin, to enlarge my Capacity for a Man of Buſineſs. 1700, Tom Brown, Amusements Serious and Comical, calculated for the Meridian of London, page 10:
   • Let me supervise the canzonet. 1590, William Shakespeare, Love's Labour's Lost, IV. ii. 120:

Forms

Deriveds

cosupervise · supervisal · supervisable · supervisive

Relateds

supervision · supervisory · supervisor · supervisee

Synonyms

superintend

Translations (32)

mww saib (to oversee or direct) · es supervisar (to oversee or direct) · nl aansturen (to oversee or direct) · bg надзиравам (to oversee or direct) · el εποπτεύω (to oversee or direct) · cmn 管制 (to oversee or direct) · ro superviza (to oversee or direct) · nl besturen (to oversee or direct) · vi cai quản (to oversee or direct) · cs vést (to oversee or direct) · cs mít na starost (to oversee or direct) · fr superviser (to oversee or direct) · fi valvoa (to oversee or direct) · ru заве́довать (to oversee or direct) · got 𐍆𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌰𐍃𐍄𐌰𐌽𐌳𐌰𐌽 (to oversee or direct) · hu felügyel (to oversee or direct) · hu irányít (to oversee or direct) · sq mbikëqyr (to oversee or direct) · tyz cai cuổn (to oversee or direct) · pt supervisionar (to oversee or direct) · de beaufsichtigen (to oversee or direct) · nl toezien (to oversee or direct) · ca supervisar (to oversee or direct) · cs dohlížet (to oversee or direct) · fr encadrer (to oversee or direct) · fi johtaa (to oversee or direct) · uk наглядати (to oversee or direct) · cs dozírat (to oversee or direct) · el επιβλέπω (to oversee or direct) · pt supervisar (to oversee or direct) · hu ellenőriz (to oversee or direct) · te పర్యవేక్షించు (to oversee or direct)