"supervise" meaning in English

See supervise in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Verb

IPA: /ˈsuː.pə.vaɪz/ [Received-Pronunciation], /ˈsuː.pɚ.vaɪz/ [General-American], /ˈsʉː.pə.vɑɪz/ [General-Australian] Audio: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-supervise.wav [Southern-England] Forms: supervises [present, singular, third-person], supervising [participle, present], supervised [participle, past], supervised [past]
Etymology: Borrowed from Medieval Latin supervisus, from supervidere, from Latin super + videre. Doublet of survey. Etymology templates: {{bor|en|ML.|supervisus}} Medieval Latin supervisus, {{m|la|supervidere}} supervidere, {{der|en|la|super}} Latin super, {{m|la|videre}} videre, {{doublet|en|survey}} Doublet of survey Head templates: {{en-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. Tags: transitive Translations (to oversee or direct): mbikëqyr (Albanian), надзиравам (nadziravam) (Bulgarian), supervisar (Catalan), 管制 (guǎnzhì) (Chinese Mandarin), toezien (Dutch), besturen (Dutch), aansturen (Dutch), johtaa (Finnish), valvoa (Finnish), superviser (French), encadrer (French), beaufsichtigen (German), 𐍆𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌰𐍃𐍄𐌰𐌽𐌳𐌰𐌽 (faurastandan) (Gothic), εποπτεύω (epoptévo) (Greek), επιβλέπω (epivlépo) (Greek), felügyel (Hungarian), irányít (Hungarian), ellenőriz (Hungarian), supervisar (Portuguese), supervisionar [Brazil] (Portuguese), superviza (Romanian), заве́довать (zavédovatʹ) (Russian), supervisar (Spanish), పర్యవేక్షించు (paryavēkṣiñcu) (Telugu), наглядати (nahljadaty) (Ukrainian), saib (White Hmong)
    Sense id: en-supervise-en-verb-~X~BOKFk Disambiguation of 'to oversee or direct': 93 7
  2. (transitive, obsolete) To look over so as to read; to peruse. Tags: obsolete, transitive
    Sense id: en-supervise-en-verb-tqdAJhph Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 31 69
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Synonyms: supervize [US] Related terms: supervisee, supervision, supervisor, supervisory

Inflected forms

Alternative forms

Download JSON data for supervise meaning in English (7.8kB)

{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "ML.",
        "3": "supervisus"
      },
      "expansion": "Medieval Latin supervisus",
      "name": "bor"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "la",
        "2": "supervidere"
      },
      "expansion": "supervidere",
      "name": "m"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "la",
        "3": "super"
      },
      "expansion": "Latin super",
      "name": "der"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "la",
        "2": "videre"
      },
      "expansion": "videre",
      "name": "m"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "survey"
      },
      "expansion": "Doublet of survey",
      "name": "doublet"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Borrowed from Medieval Latin supervisus, from supervidere, from Latin super + videre. Doublet of survey.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "supervises",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "supervising",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "supervised",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "supervised",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "supervise (third-person singular simple present supervises, present participle supervising, simple past and past participle supervised)",
      "name": "en-verb"
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  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "related": [
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "supervisee"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "supervision"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "supervisor"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "supervisory"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Without someone to supervise them, the group will lack direction.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1895, Sir Walter Roper Lawrence, The Valley of Kashmir, page 3",
          "text": "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.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1934, Tung Chi Lin, Chinese Expansion to the Northeast: Methods and Mechanisms, University of California, →OCLC, page 37",
          "text": "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[…]",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2012, Kathryn M. Johnson, The Insider's Guide to Supervising Government Employees",
          "text": "I had learned a lot about supervising by observing other supervisors—the good things and the not-so-good things they did.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To oversee or direct a task or organization."
      ],
      "id": "en-supervise-en-verb-~X~BOKFk",
      "links": [
        [
          "oversee",
          "oversee#English"
        ],
        [
          "direct",
          "direct#English"
        ],
        [
          "task",
          "task#English"
        ],
        [
          "organization",
          "organization#English"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(transitive) To oversee or direct a task or organization."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "transitive"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "_dis1": "93 7",
          "code": "sq",
          "lang": "Albanian",
          "sense": "to oversee or direct",
          "word": "mbikëqyr"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "93 7",
          "code": "bg",
          "lang": "Bulgarian",
          "roman": "nadziravam",
          "sense": "to oversee or direct",
          "word": "надзиравам"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "93 7",
          "code": "ca",
          "lang": "Catalan",
          "sense": "to oversee or direct",
          "word": "supervisar"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "93 7",
          "code": "cmn",
          "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
          "roman": "guǎnzhì",
          "sense": "to oversee or direct",
          "word": "管制"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "93 7",
          "code": "nl",
          "lang": "Dutch",
          "sense": "to oversee or direct",
          "word": "toezien"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "93 7",
          "code": "nl",
          "lang": "Dutch",
          "sense": "to oversee or direct",
          "word": "besturen"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "93 7",
          "code": "nl",
          "lang": "Dutch",
          "sense": "to oversee or direct",
          "word": "aansturen"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "93 7",
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "to oversee or direct",
          "word": "johtaa"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "93 7",
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "to oversee or direct",
          "word": "valvoa"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "93 7",
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "to oversee or direct",
          "word": "superviser"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "93 7",
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "to oversee or direct",
          "word": "encadrer"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "93 7",
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "to oversee or direct",
          "word": "beaufsichtigen"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "93 7",
          "code": "got",
          "lang": "Gothic",
          "roman": "faurastandan",
          "sense": "to oversee or direct",
          "word": "𐍆𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌰𐍃𐍄𐌰𐌽𐌳𐌰𐌽"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "93 7",
          "code": "el",
          "lang": "Greek",
          "roman": "epoptévo",
          "sense": "to oversee or direct",
          "word": "εποπτεύω"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "93 7",
          "code": "el",
          "lang": "Greek",
          "roman": "epivlépo",
          "sense": "to oversee or direct",
          "word": "επιβλέπω"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "93 7",
          "code": "hu",
          "lang": "Hungarian",
          "sense": "to oversee or direct",
          "word": "felügyel"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "93 7",
          "code": "hu",
          "lang": "Hungarian",
          "sense": "to oversee or direct",
          "word": "irányít"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "93 7",
          "code": "hu",
          "lang": "Hungarian",
          "sense": "to oversee or direct",
          "word": "ellenőriz"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "93 7",
          "code": "pt",
          "lang": "Portuguese",
          "sense": "to oversee or direct",
          "word": "supervisar"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "93 7",
          "code": "pt",
          "lang": "Portuguese",
          "sense": "to oversee or direct",
          "tags": [
            "Brazil"
          ],
          "word": "supervisionar"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "93 7",
          "code": "ro",
          "lang": "Romanian",
          "sense": "to oversee or direct",
          "word": "superviza"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "93 7",
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "zavédovatʹ",
          "sense": "to oversee or direct",
          "word": "заве́довать"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "93 7",
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "sense": "to oversee or direct",
          "word": "supervisar"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "93 7",
          "code": "te",
          "lang": "Telugu",
          "roman": "paryavēkṣiñcu",
          "sense": "to oversee or direct",
          "word": "పర్యవేక్షించు"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "93 7",
          "code": "uk",
          "lang": "Ukrainian",
          "roman": "nahljadaty",
          "sense": "to oversee or direct",
          "word": "наглядати"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "93 7",
          "code": "mww",
          "lang": "White Hmong",
          "sense": "to oversee or direct",
          "word": "saib"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "31 69",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1590, William Shakespeare, Love's Labour's Lost, IV. ii. 120",
          "text": "Let me supervise the canzonet.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1700, Tom Brown, Amusements Serious and Comical, calculated for the Meridian of London, page 10",
          "text": "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.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To look over so as to read; to peruse."
      ],
      "id": "en-supervise-en-verb-tqdAJhph",
      "links": [
        [
          "look over",
          "look over"
        ],
        [
          "read",
          "read"
        ],
        [
          "peruse",
          "peruse"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(transitive, obsolete) To look over so as to read; to peruse."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "obsolete",
        "transitive"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈsuː.pə.vaɪz/",
      "tags": [
        "Received-Pronunciation"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈsuː.pɚ.vaɪz/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈsʉː.pə.vɑɪz/",
      "tags": [
        "General-Australian"
      ]
    },
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      "audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-supervise.wav",
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      "tags": [
        "Southern-England"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (Southern England)"
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ],
      "word": "supervize"
    }
  ],
  "word": "supervise"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English 3-syllable words",
    "English doublets",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English terms borrowed from Medieval Latin",
    "English terms derived from Latin",
    "English terms derived from Medieval Latin",
    "English terms with IPA pronunciation",
    "English terms with audio links",
    "English verbs"
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      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "ML.",
        "3": "supervisus"
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      "expansion": "Medieval Latin supervisus",
      "name": "bor"
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      "args": {
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        "2": "supervidere"
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        "1": "en",
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        "3": "super"
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      "expansion": "Latin super",
      "name": "der"
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        "1": "la",
        "2": "videre"
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      "expansion": "videre",
      "name": "m"
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        "1": "en",
        "2": "survey"
      },
      "expansion": "Doublet of survey",
      "name": "doublet"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Borrowed from Medieval Latin supervisus, from supervidere, from Latin super + videre. Doublet of survey.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "supervises",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "supervising",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
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    {
      "form": "supervised",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
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      "form": "supervised",
      "tags": [
        "past"
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  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "related": [
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      "word": "supervisee"
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      "word": "supervision"
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      "word": "supervisor"
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      "word": "supervisory"
    }
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        "English terms with quotations",
        "English terms with usage examples",
        "English transitive verbs"
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          "text": "Without someone to supervise them, the group will lack direction.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1895, Sir Walter Roper Lawrence, The Valley of Kashmir, page 3",
          "text": "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.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1934, Tung Chi Lin, Chinese Expansion to the Northeast: Methods and Mechanisms, University of California, →OCLC, page 37",
          "text": "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[…]",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2012, Kathryn M. Johnson, The Insider's Guide to Supervising Government Employees",
          "text": "I had learned a lot about supervising by observing other supervisors—the good things and the not-so-good things they did.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To oversee or direct a task or organization."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "oversee",
          "oversee#English"
        ],
        [
          "direct",
          "direct#English"
        ],
        [
          "task",
          "task#English"
        ],
        [
          "organization",
          "organization#English"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(transitive) To oversee or direct a task or organization."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "transitive"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with obsolete senses",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English transitive verbs",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned"
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        {
          "ref": "1590, William Shakespeare, Love's Labour's Lost, IV. ii. 120",
          "text": "Let me supervise the canzonet.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1700, Tom Brown, Amusements Serious and Comical, calculated for the Meridian of London, page 10",
          "text": "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.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To look over so as to read; to peruse."
      ],
      "links": [
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          "look over",
          "look over"
        ],
        [
          "read",
          "read"
        ],
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          "peruse",
          "peruse"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(transitive, obsolete) To look over so as to read; to peruse."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "obsolete",
        "transitive"
      ]
    }
  ],
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      "tags": [
        "Received-Pronunciation"
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    {
      "ipa": "/ˈsuː.pɚ.vaɪz/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
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    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈsʉː.pə.vɑɪz/",
      "tags": [
        "General-Australian"
      ]
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      "audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-supervise.wav",
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      "tags": [
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  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ],
      "word": "supervize"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "sq",
      "lang": "Albanian",
      "sense": "to oversee or direct",
      "word": "mbikëqyr"
    },
    {
      "code": "bg",
      "lang": "Bulgarian",
      "roman": "nadziravam",
      "sense": "to oversee or direct",
      "word": "надзиравам"
    },
    {
      "code": "ca",
      "lang": "Catalan",
      "sense": "to oversee or direct",
      "word": "supervisar"
    },
    {
      "code": "cmn",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "roman": "guǎnzhì",
      "sense": "to oversee or direct",
      "word": "管制"
    },
    {
      "code": "nl",
      "lang": "Dutch",
      "sense": "to oversee or direct",
      "word": "toezien"
    },
    {
      "code": "nl",
      "lang": "Dutch",
      "sense": "to oversee or direct",
      "word": "besturen"
    },
    {
      "code": "nl",
      "lang": "Dutch",
      "sense": "to oversee or direct",
      "word": "aansturen"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "to oversee or direct",
      "word": "johtaa"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "to oversee or direct",
      "word": "valvoa"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "to oversee or direct",
      "word": "superviser"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "to oversee or direct",
      "word": "encadrer"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "to oversee or direct",
      "word": "beaufsichtigen"
    },
    {
      "code": "got",
      "lang": "Gothic",
      "roman": "faurastandan",
      "sense": "to oversee or direct",
      "word": "𐍆𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌰𐍃𐍄𐌰𐌽𐌳𐌰𐌽"
    },
    {
      "code": "el",
      "lang": "Greek",
      "roman": "epoptévo",
      "sense": "to oversee or direct",
      "word": "εποπτεύω"
    },
    {
      "code": "el",
      "lang": "Greek",
      "roman": "epivlépo",
      "sense": "to oversee or direct",
      "word": "επιβλέπω"
    },
    {
      "code": "hu",
      "lang": "Hungarian",
      "sense": "to oversee or direct",
      "word": "felügyel"
    },
    {
      "code": "hu",
      "lang": "Hungarian",
      "sense": "to oversee or direct",
      "word": "irányít"
    },
    {
      "code": "hu",
      "lang": "Hungarian",
      "sense": "to oversee or direct",
      "word": "ellenőriz"
    },
    {
      "code": "pt",
      "lang": "Portuguese",
      "sense": "to oversee or direct",
      "word": "supervisar"
    },
    {
      "code": "pt",
      "lang": "Portuguese",
      "sense": "to oversee or direct",
      "tags": [
        "Brazil"
      ],
      "word": "supervisionar"
    },
    {
      "code": "ro",
      "lang": "Romanian",
      "sense": "to oversee or direct",
      "word": "superviza"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "zavédovatʹ",
      "sense": "to oversee or direct",
      "word": "заве́довать"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "to oversee or direct",
      "word": "supervisar"
    },
    {
      "code": "te",
      "lang": "Telugu",
      "roman": "paryavēkṣiñcu",
      "sense": "to oversee or direct",
      "word": "పర్యవేక్షించు"
    },
    {
      "code": "uk",
      "lang": "Ukrainian",
      "roman": "nahljadaty",
      "sense": "to oversee or direct",
      "word": "наглядати"
    },
    {
      "code": "mww",
      "lang": "White Hmong",
      "sense": "to oversee or direct",
      "word": "saib"
    }
  ],
  "word": "supervise"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-04-26 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-04-21 using wiktextract (93a6c53 and 21a9316). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.