# supervisor
## English
### Alternative forms

* supervisour (obsolete)

### Etymology

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.

### Pronunciation

* (UK) IPA: /ˈsuːpəˌvaɪzə(ɹ)/, enPR: so͞op′ərvīz'ər
* Audio (Southern England):(file)
* (US) IPA: /ˈsupɚˌvaɪzɚ/

### Noun

supervisor (plural supervisors)
* (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, →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:I had learned a lot about supervising by observing other supervisors—the good things and the not-so-good things they did.
* 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 […]
* (US) In certain states, an elected member of the governing body for a county which is called the board of supervisors.
* (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.

#### Derived terms

* script supervisor

#### Related terms

* supervise
* supervisee
* supervision
* supervisory

#### Translations
### See also

* manager
* on-call supervisor
* superintendent

### References

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

### Anagrams

* proviruses

## Catalan
### Pronunciation

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

### Noun

supervisor m (plural supervisors, feminine supervisora)
* supervisor

#### Related terms

* supervisar
* supervisió

### Further reading

* “supervisor” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
* “supervisor”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2025
* “supervisor” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.

## Portuguese
### Etymology

From super- +‎ visor.

### Pronunciation

* (Brazil) IPA: /ˌsu.peɾ.viˈzoʁ/ [ˌsu.peɾ.viˈzoh]
* (Brazil) IPA: /ˌsu.peɾ.viˈzoʁ/ [ˌsu.peɾ.viˈzoh]
** (São Paulo) IPA: /ˌsu.peɾ.viˈzoɾ/
** (Rio de Janeiro) IPA: /ˌsu.peɾ.viˈzoʁ/ [ˌsu.peɾ.viˈzoχ]
** (Southern Brazil) IPA: /ˌsu.peɾ.viˈzoɻ/
* (Portugal) IPA: /ˌsu.pɛɾ.viˈzoɾ/
* (Portugal) IPA: /ˌsu.pɛɾ.viˈzoɾ/
** (Northern Portugal) IPA: /ˌsu.pɛɾ.biˈzoɾ/ [ˌsu.pɛɾ.βiˈzoɾ]
** (Southern Portugal) IPA: /ˌsu.pɛɾ.viˈzo.ɾi/
* Hyphenation: su‧per‧vi‧sor

### Noun

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

## Spanish
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /supeɾbiˈsoɾ/ [su.peɾ.β̞iˈsoɾ]
* Rhymes: -oɾ
* Syllabification: su‧per‧vi‧sor

### Noun

supervisor m (plural supervisores, feminine supervisora, feminine plural supervisoras)
* supervisor
* handler (e.g., a secret agent's handler)

#### Related terms

* supervisar
* supervisión

### Further reading

* “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], 2024 December 10