noun
oversight
OH-vuh-syt
noun
1
A mistake made by failing to notice or consider something.
"Leaving her name off the list was a simple oversight."
2
The responsibility of supervising and checking how something is run.
"The committee provides oversight of the university's spending."
How to Use Oversight
Learner’s notesIn plain EnglishEither an accidental slip-up, or the formal act of supervising and checking on something.
Common mistake
Context decides the meaning: "due to an oversight" = a mistake; "regulatory oversight" = supervision.
Common pairings
regulatory oversight
a minor oversight
oversight committee
Word Forms
oversighted past tense, oversights plural, oversights singular
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Leaving her name off the list was a simple _____.
Etymology
Built from over- + sight, so it literally covers both "watching over" and "looking past" something — hence its two opposite-feeling meanings.