Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner's English Dictionary - blind

(blinds, blinding, blinded) Frequency: The word is one of the 3000 most common words in English. 1. Someone who is blind is unable to see because their eyes are damaged. I started helping him run the business when he went blind... ADJ • The blind are people who are blind. He was a teacher of the blind. N-PLURAL: the N • blindness Early diagnosis and treatment can usually prevent blindness. N-UNCOUNT 2. If something blinds you, it makes you unable to see, either for a short time or permanently. The sun hit the windscreen, momentarily blinding him. VERB: V n 3. If you are blind with something such as tears or a bright light, you are unable to see for a short time because of the tears or light. Her mother groped for the back of the chair, her eyes blind with tears. ADJ: v-link ADJ, usu ADJ with n • blindly Lettie groped blindly for the glass. ADV 4. If you say that someone is blind to a fact or a situation, you mean that they ignore it or are unaware of it, although you think that they should take notice of it or be aware of it. All the time I was blind to your suffering. ADJ: v-link ADJ to n c darkgreen]disapproval • blindness ...blindness in government policy to the very existence of the unemployed. N-UNCOUNT 5. If something blinds you to the real situation, it prevents you from realizing that it exists or from understanding it properly. He never allowed his love of Australia to blind him to his countrymen’s faults. VERB: V n to n 6. You can describe someone’s beliefs or actions as blind when you think that they seem to take no notice of important facts or behave in an unreasonable way. ...her blind faith in the wisdom of the Church... Lesley yelled at him with blind, hating rage. ADJ: usu ADJ n c darkgreen]disapproval 7. A blind corner is one that you cannot see round because something is blocking your view. He tried to overtake three cars on a blind corner and crashed head-on into a lorry. ADJ: ADJ n 8. A blind is a roll of cloth or paper which you can pull down over a window as a covering. N-COUNT see also Venetian blind 9. see also blinding, blindly, colour-blind 10. If you say that someone is turning a blind eye to something bad or illegal that is happening, you mean that you think they are pretending not to notice that it is happening so that they will not have to do anything about it. Teachers are turning a blind eye to pupils smoking at school, a report reveals today... PHRASE: V inflects c darkgreen]disapproval