Work and business / B1

SOOP-uh-vyz-uh/ˈsuːpəvaɪzə/

A supervisor oversees workers or a student’s project: report to your supervisor; a shift supervisor; a PhD supervisor. Manager is often more senior or more about budgets; boss is informal. Supervise is the verb; supervision is the noun. Super visor as two words is wrong. Do not use supervisor for a school head teacher.

Meaning

A person in charge of other workers or of a student’s work.

Examples

• “Tell your supervisor if the machine makes a new noise.”
• “New cashiers must not open the till without a supervisor.”
• “Email your dissertation supervisor a chapter outline this week.”

Good to know

shift / PhD supervisor; report to your supervisor. Verb: supervise. Informal: boss. Often more senior: manager.

Near in meaning

manager

Topics

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