noun
oversight
an unintentional omission resulting from failure to notice something
Where it comes from
Oversight was formed in English from over and sight. Its earliest recorded sense in the fifteenth century was supervision or watchful care: an overseer figuratively looks over the work entrusted to them.
How the meaning developed
Within the same century, looking over also supplied the contrary sense: passing over something without noticing it. The two meanings survived together, so an oversight committee exists to prevent the very oversights that inattentive supervision permits.
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Sources
Definitions adapted from Open English WordNet where applicable. License and attribution. Word-history text comes from Lexifour’s sourced social research; pages are assembled automatically, not individually fact-checked on every update.
Updated 2026-09-25. Report a correction.