blindness

American  

[blahynd-nis] / ˈblaɪnd nɪs /

noun

1. the inability to see; the condition of having severely impaired or absolutely no sense of sight.

   Patients are first asked if their blindness is congenital or the result of injury or disease.

2. an unwillingness or inability to perceive or understand; lack of judgment; ignorance.

   Your blindness to this behavior has allowed his anxiety to worsen.

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blindness Scientific  

/ blīnd′nĭs /

1. A lack or impairment of vision in which maximal visual acuity after correction by refractive lenses is one-tenth normal vision or less in the better eye. Blindness can be genetic but is usually acquired as a result of injury, cataracts, or diseases such as glaucoma or diabetes. In Asia and Africa, trachoma is a common infectious cause of blindness.

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Etymology

Origin of blindness

First recorded before 1000; blind ( def. ) + -ness ( def. )

Example Sentences

Diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa at 18, Petrou later advocated for “EyeBonds” and tax incentives to fund blindness research.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 12, 2026

Over time, it can lead to serious complications, including nerve damage, blindness, coma, and even death.

From Science Daily • Mar. 2, 2026

The answer isn’t ideological blindness so much as methodological constraint.

From Barron's • Feb. 2, 2026

The inquiry's senior counsel went on to say that managers at the health board had failed to ask questions about the hospital building and had instead showed a "wilful blindness".

From BBC • Jan. 23, 2026

Evidently some wild wag of an oculist set them there to fatten his practice in the borough of Queens, and then sank down himself into eternal blindness or forgot them and moved away.

From " The Great Gatsby" by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Related Words

• defect
• myopia