supervisor

• supervisour (obsolete)

Attested since the 15th century C.E.; from Middle English supervisor, supervisour, supervysor, supervysour, from Latin supervīsor, from supervideō, in turn from super + videō. By surface analysis, supervise +‎ -or.

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈsuːpəˌvaɪzə(ɹ)/, enPR: so͞op′ərvīz'ər

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈsupɚˌvaɪzɚ/

supervisor (plural supervisors)

1. (management) A person with the official task of overseeing the work of a person or group, or of other operations and activities.
   • 1985, Drexel Library Quarterly, volume 21, page 104:

     Thus, today, even if the objective does seem "goalish," the supervisor assumes the problem inherent in trying to "accomplish" that goal will become clear to the librarian as the action plan evolves […]

   • 2001, Wendy Dobson, Gary Hufbauer, World Capital Markets‎^[1], →ISBN, page 103:

     The 1999 merger between Citibank (banking) and Travelers (insurance) created the model for megafinance and confirmed new challenges for supervisors.

   • 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. A person who monitors someone to make sure they comply with rules or other requirements set for them.
   • 2013, Thomas Pynchon, Bleeding Edge, Vintage, published 2014, page 24:

     Kashruth fraud in Brooklyn. Seems a goon squad of fake mashgichim or kosher supervisors have been making their way around the neighborhoods pulling surprise ‘inspections’ on different shops and restaurants, selling them fancy-looking certificates to put in the window […]

3. (US) In certain states, an elected member of the governing body for a county which is called the board of supervisors.
4. (computing) A process responsible for managing other processes.
   • 1965, P. A. Crisman, The compatible time-sharing system: a programmer's guide, page 14:

     The clock burst which enables the supervisor to housekeep the console input and output and to change program status is currently set to 200 ms.

• script supervisor

• supervise
• supervisee
• supervision
• supervisory

• manager
• on-call supervisor
• superintendent

• Douglas Harper (2001–2025) “supervisor”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

• proviruses

• IPA^(key): (Central) [ˌsu.pər.biˈzo]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic) [ˌsu.pər.viˈzo]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [ˌsu.peɾ.viˈzoɾ]

supervisor m (plural supervisors, feminine supervisora, feminine plural supervisores)

1. supervisor

• supervisar
• supervisió

• “supervisor”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007
• “supervisor”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2025
• “supervisor” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.

From super- +‎ visor.

• Hyphenation: su‧per‧vi‧sor

supervisor m (plural supervisores, feminine supervisora, feminine plural supervisoras)

1. (management) supervisor

• IPA^(key): /supeɾbiˈsoɾ/ [su.peɾ.β̞iˈsoɾ]
• Rhymes: -oɾ
• Syllabification: su‧per‧vi‧sor

supervisor m (plural supervisores, feminine supervisora, feminine plural supervisoras)

1. supervisor
2. handler (e.g., a secret agent's handler)

• “supervisor”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 10 December 2024