Word of the Day

: December 22, 2023

purview

noun PER-vyoo

What It Means

Purview refers to an area within which someone or something has authority, influence, or knowledge. It can also refer to a range of vision, understanding, or awareness.

// I’ll do my best to answer your questions, but please note that my field is linguistics, and topics relating to economics are beyond my purview.

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purview in Context

"The Springdale Public Library comes under the purview of the Washington County Library System." — Laurinda Joenks, The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, 18 July 2023

Did You Know?

It may not be illogical to assume a connection between purview and view, but is there one? Not exactly. Although the two words share a syllable, you’ll find that they have very different histories as viewed in the etymological rearview mirror. Purview comes from purveu, a word often found in the legal statutes of 13th- and 14th-century England. These statutes, written in Anglo-French, regularly open with the phrase purveu est, which translates literally to "it is provided." Purveu in turn comes from porveu, the past participle of the Old French verb porveeir, meaning "to provide." View, on the other hand, comes (via Middle English) from the past participle of another Anglo-French word, veer, meaning "to see," and ultimately from the Latin word vidēre, of the same meaning.