👁️ turn a blind eye
The Mental Picture
Connected to Light & Vision. Picture deliberately shifting your gaze or tilting your head so that an obvious event falls strictly within an unseeing eye, consciously pretending you did not witness it to avoid confronting the issue.
🎧 How Fluent Speakers Use It
- "Senior management chose to turn a blind eye to the safety violations until an official audit intervened."
- "You cannot simply turn a blind eye to your partner's unethical accounting practices."
⚖️ Sound Natural
| ❌ Stilted / Direct L1 Translation | ✅ Natural Target Expression |
|---|---|
| "The director knowingly pretended not to see the misconduct." | "The director turned a blind eye to the misconduct." |
🧩 Quick Self-Test
Test Yourself
What distinguishes "turning a blind eye" from having a "blind spot"?
Show Answer
A blind spot is an unintentional, unconscious limitation that you cannot see; turning a blind eye is a deliberate, conscious choice to pretend you do not see wrongdoing or inconvenient facts!