Meaning & use
supervise
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Meanings
verbtransitive
To watch and direct people or an activity to make sure it is done properly and safely.
Grammar: Takes an object: supervise the staff.
Patterns
- supervise someone
- supervise something
- supervise someone doing something
Two teachers supervise the children during lunch.
A nurse supervised the students as they practiced.
Who will supervise the construction of the new bridge?
verbtransitiveBritish
To guide a student's research for a thesis or dissertation as their academic adviser.
Grammar: Takes an object: supervise a thesis.
Patterns
- supervise someone's thesis
Professor Lee supervises six doctoral students.
She agreed to supervise his dissertation on coral reefs.
He has supervised dozens of research projects.
Word forms
| third person singular | supervises |
|---|---|
| past tense | supervised |
| past participle | supervised |
| -ing form | supervising |
Common combinations
- closely supervise
- New workers are closely supervised for the first month.
- supervise a team
- She supervises a team of twelve technicians.
- supervise the work
- An engineer must supervise the work on site.
- supervise children
- Parents must supervise young children near the pool.
- supervised by an adult
- Under-sixteens must be supervised by an adult.
Synonyms and how they differ
- oversee
- Oversee is slightly more formal and suggests a broader view of a whole operation, while supervise suggests more regular checking of people.
- manage
- Manage includes planning, budgets and decisions, whereas supervise focuses on watching and directing the work itself.
- monitor
- Monitor means to observe and record how something is going, without necessarily giving orders as a supervisor does.
- superintend
- Superintend is rare and formal, and it implies official responsibility over a large operation.
Opposites
Word family
- supervision noun
- the act of overseeing people or work
- supervisor noun
- a person who oversees others
- supervisory adjective
- having the role of overseeing
- unsupervised adjective
- not watched or directed by anyone
Commonly confused: supervise or supervene?
supervise vs supervene
Supervene is a rare formal verb meaning to occur as an unexpected addition, and it does not mean to watch over people.
Practice
A qualified lifeguard must ___ the children while they swim.
Choose one answer.
Supervise means to watch over and direct people to keep them safe. The other verbs do not fit this safety role.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “supervise”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.