blindness

[blahynd-nis]

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.

blindness

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.

Word History and Origins

Origin of blindness¹

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

Example Sentences

Bunger regularly sees a specialist for an eye condition and may in the future require surgery to avoid blindness.

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After decades of what defense officials call “South blindness,” U.S.

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At the end of his life, Tomas missed family celebrations because of his blindness.

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This condition affects over 5 million people worldwide and is the leading cause of irreversible blindness among older adults.

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Richard York, of the University of Oregon, is seen marveling in the film at the self-willed blindness of the U.S. policy community to a simple question: Do clean-energy subsidies result in fossil fuels being displaced?

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Related Words

• defect 
• myopia