supervise

See also: supervisé

English

Alternative forms

• supervize (US)

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈsuː.pə.vaɪz/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈsuː.pɚ.vaɪz/
• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /ˈsʉː.pə.vɑɪz/

Verb

supervise (third-person singular simple present supervises, present participle supervising, simple past and past participle supervised)

1. (transitive) To oversee or direct a task or organization.

   Without someone to supervise them, the group will lack direction.

   • 1895, Sir Walter Roper Lawrence, The Valley of Kashmir, page 3:

     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.

   • 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XIX, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:

     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.

   • 1934, Tung Chi Lin, Chinese Expansion to the Northeast: Methods and Mechanisms‎^[1], University of California, →OCLC, page 37:

     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 […]

   • 2012, Kathryn M. Johnson, The Insider's Guide to Supervising Government Employees‎^[2]:

     I had learned a lot about supervising by observing other supervisors—the good things and the not-so-good things they did.

2. (transitive, obsolete) To look over so as to read; to peruse.
   • 1590, William Shakespeare, Love's Labour's Lost, IV. ii. 120:

     Let me supervise the canzonet.

   • 1700, Tom Brown, Amusements Serious and Comical, calculated for the Meridian of London, page 10:

     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.

Related terms

• supervisee
• supervision
• supervisor
• supervisory

 

Translations

to oversee or direct

• Albanian: mbikëqyr (sq)
• Bulgarian: надзиравам (bg) (nadziravam)
• Catalan: supervisar (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 管制 (zh) (guǎnzhì)

• Dutch: toezien (nl), besturen (nl), aansturen (nl)
• Finnish: johtaa (fi), valvoa (fi)
• French: superviser (fr), encadrer (fr)
• German: beaufsichtigen (de)
• Gothic: 𐍆𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌰𐍃𐍄𐌰𐌽𐌳𐌰𐌽 (faurastandan)
• Greek: εποπτεύω (el) (epoptévo), επιβλέπω (el) (epivlépo)
• Hungarian: felügyel (hu), irányít (hu), ellenőriz (hu)
• Portuguese: supervisar, supervisionar (pt) (Brazil)
• Romanian: superviza (ro)
• Russian: заве́довать (ru) (zavédovatʹ)
• Spanish: supervisar (es)
• Telugu: పర్యవేక్షించు (paryavēkṣiñcu)
• Tày: cai cuổn
• Ukrainian: наглядати (nahljadaty)
• Vietnamese: cai quản (vi)
• White Hmong: saib

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sy.pɛʁ.viz/

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

supervise

1. inflection of superviser:
   1. first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
   2. second-person singular imperative

Portuguese

Verb

supervise

1. inflection of supervisar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /supeɾˈbise/ [su.peɾˈβ̞i.se]
• Rhymes: -ise
• Syllabification: su‧per‧vi‧se

Verb

supervise

1. inflection of supervisar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative