Meanings
present singular third person turns a blind eye · participle present turning a blind eye · participle past turned a blind eye · past turned a blind eye · alternative archaic turn the blind eye
- idiomaticintransitiveTo deliberately or knowingly ignore, overlook, or refuse to acknowledge something, especially when improper or unpleasant; to look the other way.
The mother turned a blind eye to her son’s mischief as she expected him not to repeat it.
5 more examples
The great Advantage of thus vvalking by Faith is, that it vvill help us […] to turn the deaf Ear, and the blind Eye to all thoſe Pomps and Vanities of the VVorld vvhich vve renounc'd at our Baptiſm, and to have it no longer in our Hearts, but under our Feet.
1698, John Norris, “A Discourse of Walking by Faith. In Two Parts.”, in Practical Discourses upon Several Divine Subjects, […], volume IV, London: […] S[amuel] Manship […], and J. Jones […], →OCLC, part I, pages 222–223[…] I must say that for some reasons we wanted such a person very much, and find her very useful, so I turn a blind eye and a deaf ear every now and then, and we get on marvellously well.
1823 October 1 (date written), Martha Wilmot, More Letters from Martha Wilmot: Impressions of Vienna, 1819–1829, […], London: Macmillan and Co., published 1935, →OCLC, page 197I do not speak of portraiture in marble. In this my countrymen, without having produced any really very great work, by the old standards, make a respectable show, as compared with the average portrait sculpture of the day of other nations. In saying this, however, we must turn a blind eye to a considerable number of statues of our distinguished citizens which even more lamentably exhibit the defects arising from ignorance of modeling and design, impatience of study and self-conceit, than the ideal compositions by the same hands, because the contrasts between the ill-constructed effigy and the familiar living man, to the spectator, is too palpably unpleasant to be long overlooked.
1880 October 11, James Jackson Jarves, “Future American art: The growth of truer feeling and sounder methods”, in The New York Times, volume XXX, number 9076, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 2, column 4A blacker thing than blood's own dye / Weighed down great Hawkins on the sea; / And Nelson turned his blindest eye / On Naples and on liberty.
[1915, Gilbert K[eith] Chesterton, “[War Poems.] Blessed are the Peacemakers.”, in Poems, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: John Lane Company, published 1916, →OCLC, stanza 3, page 32The party's top official in Northern Ireland, Michelle O'Neill, tweeted at the time that the police force was "turning a blind eye" to loyalist paramilitaries—those engaging in violence as part of a decades-long fight to maintain the region’s status as part of the United Kingdom—"while targeting those laying flowers on the anniversary of loved ones."
2023 September 5, Megan Specia, “Northern Ireland police chief resigns amid mounting scandals”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 16 Nov 2023Synonyms: close one's eyes, shut one's eyes, wink, connive
Synonyms & antonyms
verbTo deliberately or knowingly ignore, overlook, or refuse to acknowledge something, especially when improper or unpleasant; to look the other way.
Origin
Probably from the idea of a person turning to look at something but not seeing it, as if their eyes are blind. The term is frequently claimed to originate from an incident during the First Battle of Copenhagen on 2 April 1801, when Vice Admiral Horatio Nelson (1758–1805) was ordered by Admiral Hyde Parker (1739–1807) through signal flags to discontinue naval action against a force of the Dano-Norwegian Navy. Nelson, who had been blinded in one eye early in his career, said to his flag captain Thomas Foley (1757–1833), “You know, Foley, I have only one eye—I have a right to be blind sometimes.” He then put his telescope to his blind eye and, remarking “I really do not see the signal,” continued the assault which ended in a British victory. However, this is not the source of the term as the Oxford English Dictionary records uses dating to the 17th and 18th centuries.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Arabic أَغْمَضَ العَيْنَيَنِ عَنْ
- أَغْمَضَ العَيْنَيَنِ عَنْ (ʔaḡmaḍa l-ʕaynayani ʕan)to deliberately or knowingly ignore, overlook, or refuse to acknowledge something
Catalan fer els ulls grossos
- fer els ulls grossosto deliberately or knowingly ignore, overlook, or refuse to acknowledge something
Chinese Cantonese 隻眼開隻眼閉 /只眼开只眼闭
- 隻眼開隻眼閉 /只眼开只眼闭 (zek³ ngaan⁵ hoi¹ zek³ ngaan⁵ bai³)to deliberately or knowingly ignore, overlook, or refuse to acknowledge something
Chinese Mandarin 視而不見 /视而不见, 漠然置之
- 視而不見 /视而不见 (shì'érbùjiàn)to deliberately or knowingly ignore, overlook, or refuse to acknowledge something
- 漠然置之 (mòránzhìzhī)to deliberately or knowingly ignore, overlook, or refuse to acknowledge something
- 睜一隻眼閉一隻眼 /睁一只眼闭一只眼 (zhēng yī zhī yǎn bì yī zhī yǎn)to deliberately or knowingly ignore, overlook, or refuse to acknowledge something
Czech přimhouřit oko
- přimhouřit okoto deliberately or knowingly ignore, overlook, or refuse to acknowledge something
Dutch door de vingers zien
- door de vingers ziento deliberately or knowingly ignore, overlook, or refuse to acknowledge something
Finnish katsoa läpi sormien, katsoa vierestä
- katsoa läpi sormiento deliberately or knowingly ignore, overlook, or refuse to acknowledge something
- katsoa vierestäto deliberately or knowingly ignore, overlook, or refuse to acknowledge something
- seurata katseellato deliberately or knowingly ignore, overlook, or refuse to acknowledge something
French fermer les yeux
- fermer les yeuxto deliberately or knowingly ignore, overlook, or refuse to acknowledge something
German die Augen verschließen vor, ein Auge zudrücken
- die Augen verschließen vorto deliberately or knowingly ignore, overlook, or refuse to acknowledge something
- ein Auge zudrückento deliberately or knowingly ignore, overlook, or refuse to acknowledge something
- wegschauento deliberately or knowingly ignore, overlook, or refuse to acknowledge something
- wegsehento deliberately or knowingly ignore, overlook, or refuse to acknowledge something
Greek κάνω τα στραβά μάτια
- κάνω τα στραβά μάτια (káno ta stravá mátia)to deliberately or knowingly ignore, overlook, or refuse to acknowledge something
Hebrew הֶעֱלִים עַיִן
- הֶעֱלִים עַיִן (he'lím 'áyin)to deliberately or knowingly ignore, overlook, or refuse to acknowledge something
Hungarian szemet huny
- szemet hunyto deliberately or knowingly ignore, overlook, or refuse to acknowledge something
Icelandic sjá í gegnum fingur við
- sjá í gegnum fingur viðto deliberately or knowingly ignore, overlook, or refuse to acknowledge something
Italian chiudere un occhio
- chiudere un occhioto deliberately or knowingly ignore, overlook, or refuse to acknowledge something
Japanese 見て見ぬふりをする
- 見て見ぬふりをする (miteminufuri o suru)to deliberately or knowingly ignore, overlook, or refuse to acknowledge something
Korean 눈감다, 눈감아 주다
- 눈감다 (nun'gamda)to deliberately or knowingly ignore, overlook, or refuse to acknowledge something
- 눈감아 주다 (nun'gama juda)to deliberately or knowingly ignore, overlook, or refuse to acknowledge something
- 무시하다 (musihada)to deliberately or knowingly ignore, overlook, or refuse to acknowledge something
- 모르는 척하다 (moreuneun cheokhada)to deliberately or knowingly ignore, overlook, or refuse to acknowledge something
Polish patrzeć przez palce, przymykać oko
- patrzeć przez palceto deliberately or knowingly ignore, overlook, or refuse to acknowledge something
- przymykać okoto deliberately or knowingly ignore, overlook, or refuse to acknowledge something
- przymknąć okoto deliberately or knowingly ignore, overlook, or refuse to acknowledge something
Portuguese fazer vista grossa
- fazer vista grossato deliberately or knowingly ignore, overlook, or refuse to acknowledge something
Romanian închide ochii (la ceva), se face că nu vede
- închide ochii (la ceva)to deliberately or knowingly ignore, overlook, or refuse to acknowledge something
- se face că nu vedeto deliberately or knowingly ignore, overlook, or refuse to acknowledge something
- se face că plouăto deliberately or knowingly ignore, overlook, or refuse to acknowledge something
Russian закрыва́ть глаза́
- закрыва́ть глаза́ (zakryvátʹ glazá)to deliberately or knowingly ignore, overlook, or refuse to acknowledge something
Spanish hacer la vista gorda, hacerse de la vista gorda
- hacer la vista gordato deliberately or knowingly ignore, overlook, or refuse to acknowledge something
- hacerse de la vista gordato deliberately or knowingly ignore, overlook, or refuse to acknowledge something
Swedish blunda för, se genom fingrarna
- blunda förto deliberately or knowingly ignore, overlook, or refuse to acknowledge something
- se genom fingrarnato deliberately or knowingly ignore, overlook, or refuse to acknowledge something
- se mellan fingrarnato deliberately or knowingly ignore, overlook, or refuse to acknowledge something
Thai เอาหูไปนา เอาตาไปไร่
- เอาหูไปนา เอาตาไปไร่ (ao-hǔu-bpai-naa ao-dtaa-bpai-râi)to deliberately or knowingly ignore, overlook, or refuse to acknowledge something
Ukrainian диви́тись крізь па́льці, закри́ти о́чі
- диви́тись крізь па́льці (dyvýtysʹ krizʹ pálʹci)to deliberately or knowingly ignore, overlook, or refuse to acknowledge something
- закри́ти о́чі (zakrýty óči)to deliberately or knowingly ignore, overlook, or refuse to acknowledge something
- заплю́щити о́чі (zapljúščyty óči)to deliberately or knowingly ignore, overlook, or refuse to acknowledge something
Cite this entry
turn a blind eye. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/turn%20a%20blind%20eye
“turn a blind eye.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/turn%20a%20blind%20eye. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “turn a blind eye,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/turn%20a%20blind%20eye.
Source: turn a blind eye on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.