overview

O1V4E1R1V4I1E1W4
UK/ˈəʊ.vəˌvjuː/US/ˈoʊ.vɚˌvjuː/

noun

A brief summary, as of a book or a presentation.

OriginEnglish view ← Middle English over- ← Old English ofer- →
Very commonScrabble 17
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Meanings

nounoverview (plural overviews)

plural overviews

  1. A brief summary, as of a book or a presentation.

    With that in mind, here is an attempt to provide an overview of what's happening where, as well as a recap on some of the major announcements that have taken place in the past few months.

    2020 August 12, Paul Bigland, “High Speed 2 is starting to accelerate”, in Rail, page 56
  2. rareA view from above.
  3. obsoleteAn inspection.

    Are we betray’d thus to thy over-view?

    c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Loues Labour’s Lost”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene iii]
verboverview (third-person singular simple present overviews, present participle overviewing, simple past and past participle overviewed)

present singular third person overviews · participle present overviewing · participle past overviewed · past overviewed

  1. transitiveTo engage in an overview; to provide a brief summary.

    Gouldner, on the other hand, overviewed all of sociology as it exists in the Western world today, using Talcott Parsons as a "representative" example of its dominant mode of thought.

    1976, Elizabeth A. Freidheim, Sociological Theory in Research Practice, →ISBN, page 313

Synonyms & antonyms

Also see
recapsumsummarysynopsistl;dr

Origin

  1. Proto-Indo-European*úp
  2. Proto-Indo-European*upér
  3. Proto-Germanic*uber
  4. Old Englishofer-
  5. Middle Englishover-
  6. Englishover-
  7. Englishview
  8. Englishoverview

From over- + view.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Bulgarian резюме
  • резюме (rezjume)brief summary, as of a book or a presentation
Chinese Mandarin 概觀 /概观
  • 概觀 /概观 (gàiguān)brief summary, as of a book or a presentation
Czech přehled
  • přehledbrief summary, as of a book or a presentation
Danish overblik
  • overblikbrief summary, as of a book or a presentation
Dutch overzicht
  • overzichtbrief summary, as of a book or a presentation
Esperanto superrigardo
  • superrigardobrief summary, as of a book or a presentation
Finnish yleiskatsaus, yleiskuva
  • yleiskatsausbrief summary, as of a book or a presentation
  • yleiskuvabrief summary, as of a book or a presentation
French vue d'ensemble, résumé
  • vue d'ensemblebrief summary, as of a book or a presentation
  • résumébrief summary, as of a book or a presentation
  • synthèsebrief summary, as of a book or a presentation
  • survolbrief summary, as of a book or a presentation
  • aperçubrief summary, as of a book or a presentation
German Übersicht, Überblick
  • Übersichtbrief summary, as of a book or a presentation
  • Überblickbrief summary, as of a book or a presentation
Greek επισκόπηση
  • επισκόπηση (episkópisi)brief summary, as of a book or a presentation
Hebrew סקירה
  • סקירה (skirá)brief summary, as of a book or a presentation
Hindi अवलोकन
  • अवलोकन (avlokan)brief summary, as of a book or a presentation
Hungarian áttekintés
  • áttekintésbrief summary, as of a book or a presentation
Irish forbhreathnú, léargas ginearálta
  • forbhreathnúbrief summary, as of a book or a presentation
  • léargas ginearáltabrief summary, as of a book or a presentation
  • foramharcbrief summary, as of a book or a presentation
  • osamharcbrief summary, as of a book or a presentation
Italian visione d'insieme, resoconto
  • visione d'insiemebrief summary, as of a book or a presentation
  • resocontobrief summary, as of a book or a presentation
  • panoramicabrief summary, as of a book or a presentation
Japanese 概要
  • 概要 (gaiyō)brief summary, as of a book or a presentation
Korean 개요
  • 개요 (gaeyo)brief summary, as of a book or a presentation
Latin breviārium
  • breviāriumbrief summary, as of a book or a presentation
Latvian pārskats
  • pārskatsbrief summary, as of a book or a presentation
Māori kōrero whānui, tirowhānui
  • kōrero whānuibrief summary, as of a book or a presentation
  • tirowhānuibrief summary, as of a book or a presentation
  • tirohanga whānuibrief summary, as of a book or a presentation
Norwegian Bokmål oversikt
  • oversiktbrief summary, as of a book or a presentation
Persian نمای کلی
  • نمای کلیbrief summary, as of a book or a presentation
Polish przegląd
  • przeglądbrief summary, as of a book or a presentation
Portuguese visão geral, breve resumo
  • visão geralbrief summary, as of a book or a presentation
  • breve resumobrief summary, as of a book or a presentation
  • apanhadobrief summary, as of a book or a presentation
Romanian vedere de ansamblu, rezumat
  • vedere de ansamblubrief summary, as of a book or a presentation
  • rezumatbrief summary, as of a book or a presentation
Russian обозре́ние
  • обозре́ние (obozrénije)brief summary, as of a book or a presentation
Spanish resumen, visión de conjunto
  • resumenbrief summary, as of a book or a presentation
  • visión de conjuntobrief summary, as of a book or a presentation
  • descripción generalbrief summary, as of a book or a presentation
  • visualización conjuntabrief summary, as of a book or a presentation
  • vista en conjuntobrief summary, as of a book or a presentation
  • panoramabrief summary, as of a book or a presentation
  • generalbrief summary, as of a book or a presentation
Swedish översikt, överblick
  • översiktbrief summary, as of a book or a presentation
  • överblickbrief summary, as of a book or a presentation
  • resumébrief summary, as of a book or a presentation
Turkish genel bakış, kısaca gözden geçirme
  • genel bakışbrief summary, as of a book or a presentation
  • kısaca gözden geçirmebrief summary, as of a book or a presentation
Ukrainian огляд
  • огляд (ohljad)brief summary, as of a book or a presentation
Welsh trosolwg, arolwg
  • trosolwgbrief summary, as of a book or a presentation
  • arolwgbrief summary, as of a book or a presentation
Cite this entry
APA

overview. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/overview

MLA

“overview.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/overview. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “overview,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/overview.

Source: overview on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.