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What is the difference between mistake and oversight?

mistake | oversight |

As nouns the difference between mistake and oversight

is that mistake is an error; a blunder while oversight is an omission; something that is left out, missed or forgotten.

As a verb mistake

is to understand wrongly, taking one thing for another, or someone for someone else.

mistake

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • An error; a blunder.
  • * 1877 , Henry Heth, quoting , in "Causes of the Defeat of Gen. Lee's Army at the Battle of GettysburgOpinions of Leading Confederate Soldiers.", Southern Historical Society Papers (1877), editor Rev. J. WM. Jones [http://books.google.com/books?id=iDIFAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA292&dq=lee+%22mistakes+were+made%22&hl=en&ei=fchaTbu4L8L98AaVs4n-DQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CDUQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=lee%20%22mistakes%20were%20made%22&f=false]
    After it is all over, as stupid a fellow as I am can see that mistakes' were made. I notice, however, that my ' mistakes are never told me until it is too late.
  • (baseball) A pitch which was intended to be pitched in a hard to hit location, but instead ends up in an easy to hit place

    • Synonyms

    * See also

    Usage notes

    * Usually make a mistake. See

    Verb

  • To understand wrongly, taking one thing for another, or someone for someone else.
    Sorry, I mistook you for my brother. You look very similar.
  • * Shakespeare
    My father's purposes have been mistook .
  • * Johnson
    A man may mistake the love of virtue for the practice of it.
  • To commit an unintentional error; to do or think something wrong.
  • * Jonathan Swift
    Servants mistake , and sometimes occasion misunderstanding among friends.
  • (obsolete, rare) To take or choose wrongly.
    (Shakespeare)

    • Derived terms

    * mistakeless

    Related terms

    * mistaken English irregular verbs 1000 English basic words

    oversight

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • An omission; something that is left out, missed or forgotten.
  • Supervision or management.
  • *{{quote-magazine, date=2013-08-10, volume=408, issue=8848, magazine=(The Economist), title= Can China clean up fast enough? , passage=It has jailed environmental activists and is planning to limit the power of judicial oversight by handing a state-approved body a monopoly over bringing environmental lawsuits.}}