What does "supervisor" mean?

1. (work manager) a person who is in charge of a group of workers and makes sure they do their jobs well. 2. (academic advisor) a teacher or professor who helps a student with a large project or research paper. 3. (computing process) a computer program that manages and watches other programs to make sure they keep running. 4. (government official) an elected official who helps run a local county government.

supervisor

US //ˈsupɝˌvaɪzɝ// UK //sˈuːpəvˌaɪzɐ// su·per·vi·sor

1 work manager (n.)
B2 Upper Intermediate

a person who is in charge of a group of workers and makes sure they do their jobs well.

an individual tasked with overseeing the daily operations and performance of a team or department.

Example

If you have a problem with your schedule, you should talk to your supervisor.

Example

The shift supervisor is responsible for ensuring that all safety protocols are followed and that production targets are met by the end of the day.
- subordinate
- employee
2 academic advisor (n.)
C1 Advanced Academic

a teacher or professor who helps a student with a large project or research paper.

a faculty member who oversees a student's research, particularly for a master's thesis or doctoral dissertation.

Example

My supervisor gave me some very helpful feedback on the first chapter of my thesis.

Example

Candidates are encouraged to meet with their research supervisor weekly to discuss data collection and any theoretical challenges encountered during the study.
- advisor
- mentor

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3 computing process (n.)
C2 Proficiency Technical Computing

a computer program that manages and watches other programs to make sure they keep running.

a process or program responsible for managing the lifecycle and error-handling of other subordinate processes.

Example

The supervisor automatically restarts the application if it crashes.

Example

In a distributed system, the supervisor node monitors the health of worker nodes and redistributes tasks if a failure is detected.
- manager
- controller
- worker
4 government official (n.)
C1 Advanced American English Formal Law

an elected official who helps run a local county government.

a member of a local governing body, specifically a board of supervisors in certain US jurisdictions.

Example

The county supervisor voted against the new tax plan at the meeting.

Example

The Board of Supervisors convened to discuss the allocation of funds for the upcoming infrastructure project in the northern district.
- councilman
- official

Origin

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.