Talk:overlook

Splitting the sense of failing to notice

The correspondence of the newly split senses to modern dictionaries (diff):

• Sense: To fail to notice
  • MWO 3a
  • Collins 1
  • MacMillan 1
  • AHD 2a
• Sense: To pretend not to have noticed
  • MWO 3b and 3c
  • Collins 2
  • MacMillan 2
  • AHD 2b

I am not copying the definitions from the dictionaries here, to avoid copyvio. --Dan Polansky (talk) 11:01, 2 March 2012 (UTC)

You don't have to 'pretend' not to have noticed, do you? The second part of our definition seems ok. To means to ignore, usually something negative, but not necessarily by 'pretending'. Mglovesfun (talk) 12:06, 2 March 2012 (UTC)

You could be right about "pretend"; I am not sure; I am not a native speaker. Is "overlook" in the discussed sense synonymous with turn a blind eye? I won't oppose edits by native speakers that significantly change the phrasing, as long as the edits make overall sense. --Dan Polansky (talk) 13:31, 2 March 2012 (UTC)

Turn a blind eye: "To ignore or deliberately overlook, especially with respect to something unpleasant or improper." Yep, it is. Mglovesfun (talk) 13:59, 2 March 2012 (UTC)