blocking out
Preventing light entry
Blocking out means preventing something from entering or being perceived.
You block out light with curtains, block out noise with headphones, or block out painful memories by refusing to think about them.
In creative work, blocking out refers to sketching the rough arrangement of elements before refining details: She spent the morning blocking out the composition.
To block out time is to reserve it: I've blocked out Friday afternoon for the meeting.
- shutting outBlocking from entering
- tuning outDeliberately not hearing
- obscuringMaking less visible
- screeningEvaluative selection process
- maskingConcealing by covering
concealing · erasing · blotting · shielding · curtains · darkness · sunlight · sketching · rough sketch · drafting · outline · stage directions · rehearsal · staging · memory · trauma · painful memories · denial
- detachmentemotional numbness, detached, dispassion, disengaged, indifference
- self-deceptiondenial, delusion, wishful thinking, rationalization, willful blindness
- Dissociationdissociation, depersonalization, derealization, multiple personality disorder, alter
- silencingsilencing, muting, hushing, shushing, quieting
- scheduling actionsbooking, reserving, rescheduling, canceling, confirming
blocking outletting in
Allowing to enter
admitting · receiving · accepting · ushering in · taking in
blocking outremembering
Retaining past information
recalling · confronting · acknowledging · reliving · recollecting
block, blocking, blocks, blocked, blocker, blockers, blockage, blockages, outing