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Overlook, Oversee
This word means to look down upon from a place that is over or above;
as, "From the top of the Washington monument you can readily overlook
the city." But it also means to look over and beyond an object in
order to see a second object, thus missing the view of the first
object; hence, to refrain from bestowing notice upon, to neglect. The
confounding of these two ideas begets ambiguity, as "Brown's business
was to overlook the workmen in the shop." His business was to oversee
or superintend them, and not to neglect or overlook them.
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Revolting
To revolt is to rebel, to renounce allegiance, but the participial
form revolting also means repugnant, loathsome. In the sentence, "A
band of revolting Huns has just passed down the street," we should be
in doubt whether the speaker referred to their acts against the
government or to their appearance. The use of the word rebellious in
the former sense, and of disagreeable or disgusting, or the stronger
adjectives given above, for the latter meaning, would make the
sentence clear.
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