close one's eyes to

Idioms  

1. Also, shut one eyes to. Deliberately ignore, refuse to notice. For example, Jill closed her eyes to the danger and pushed off downhill, or The professor shut her eyes to students who read a book during her lecture. [Early 1700s] For a synonym see turn a blind eye.

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Example Sentences

It was just more popular to roll with the wins against weaker teams, close one’s eyes to the troubling warning signs and imagine the possibilities.

From New York Times

It is a depressing spectacle, and it is well just now to close one's eyes to everything—to the famine which is stalking in our midst, to the fever which is raging round the outposts, to the ill-conditioned horses and cattle, to the weary, patient women, to the children who, unfortunately fortunate, have survived so much distress, and yet if one looks a little forward it is difficult to see that the remedy will be forthcoming.

From Project Gutenberg

The Commonwealth seemed to sink deeper each day, and it was difficult to close one's eyes to the terrible truth that for it there was no salvation.

From Project Gutenberg

Excerpts: On the left: To deny that the earth turns, to close one's eyes to new sensibilities, to forget that each generation has its own needs, its style and its language was a very widespread attitude in the traditional milieux of the left.

From Time Magazine Archive

It is impossible to close one's eyes to the fact that, during this period of persecution and massacre, imminent peril of death must have forced many a band of the priests and followers of the ancient Egyptian and other religions to seek safety in flight.

From Project Gutenberg