An Overview of the Contronym ‘Overlook’

A glance at any dictionary will see that the entry for the verb skip has many meanings, one of which is synonymous with monitor. The use of this meaning seems to be declining, and for obvious reasons. Consider this sentence:

The operator “despise” the machine. — Anglo-American Council on Productivity, packaging1950

Remove the quotation marks and most readers will get the impression of operators being distracted, distracted, or possibly tripping over their machines, as “not paying attention; ignoring” has long been considered a main meaning of skip.

boy-and-girl pictures

Seeing one thing while perhaps looking at something else

However, the “monitor” meaning is active in the language:

For him, it was easy to transform into a leader. He looks down on the underclassmen and tries to help everyone to the best of his ability. —Mallory Merda, sentinel (Carlisle, Pennsylvania), February 15, 2019

It is also present in the noun supervisoran English synonym of ruler (as in “factory observer”) as well as supervisor:

Talking to Free radios Adam Wilbourn on her new friendship with singer Cheryl [Rita Ora] said: “Being in the same workshop with another woman was amazing, especially since Cheryl is such a girl, and she and I really started right away. … I was really happy when she did. I get it. [Cowell] just an outsider!” — Robyn Munson, LookAugust 18, 2015

Another sense of skip is “to look over or through (something),” “to check.” Like the word “monitor” this meaning is used only occasionally due to the possibility of confusion with the much more common “unseen” meaning.

“You didn’t take my digging stick?” Mrs. Vanderberg asked with matrilineal pride when I had ignored it. “Yes, it’s me,” was the quick reply. These sticks are used to dig up bitter tubers (the state flower of Montana), whose fleshy roots are considered a delicacy in India. —Ralph T.Coe, Tradition lost and found1986

It can also be said that a person is “looking” at something from above—that is, they are looking at something from above:

Paul Greene … got engaged to his longtime girlfriend, Kate Austin, in May. He asks the question during a romantic trip to Italy as they overlook the city of Matera. — Megan Stein, Life in the countrysideMay 29, 2019

The common “not paying attention” feeling of skip evolved from the concept of looking beyond and beyond something, as opposed to looking at it. A person may intentionally ignore something (that is, ignore it); a person can also inadvertently miss something (i.e. simply miss something they are looking for).

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‘Overlook’ is a Contronym

Meaning of “see” and “not notice” of skip make verb a synonym (also spelled opposite)—or one from Janus, Opposition or Antonym, are all synonymous. Some antonyms (such as studymeans “read through attentively or leisurely”) might be hard to decipher, but we don’t see skip as one of them. If you consider the context, you should be able to figure out how skip being used. However, if you are an English learner, you may be momentarily confused about the meaning of the word in the sentence you are analyzing.

Other challenging contradictions are swearcan mean “untie” or “entangle” and dust, which means “cleaned with dust” or “covered with fine particles.” Look up synonyms in the Merriam-Webster dictionary (for English learners, our website learnerdictionary.com is a great language resource) and replace definitions in context is our advice. me to understand the meaning of the word. Just don’t miss this word—look it up in our dictionary and build your vocabulary. It will help you to prevent any monitor.

Categories: Usage Notes
Source: vothisaucamau.edu.vn

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