turn a blind eye
Pretend not seeing
To turn a blind eye is to deliberately ignore something you know is happening, pretending not to notice: Management turned a blind eye to the safety violations.
The phrase suggests willful ignorance rather than genuine unawareness—choosing not to see what's inconvenient to acknowledge.
- ignoreRefuse to notice
- disregardWillful lack of attention
- overlookMiss or commanding view
- dismissSend away or reject
- willful ignorancePurposely remaining uninformed
silence · look the other way · see no evil · hear no evil · hush · pass over · brush aside · connivance · plausible deniability · tacit approval · brush off · complicity · condone · selective attention · cognitive dissonance · wink · discount · feign
- Old Idiomsbeyond the pale, hue and cry, scot-free, knight in shining armor, eat humble pie
- turn phrasesabout face
- Blindblindsided
- cover-upscover up, conceal, hush up, suppress, whitewash
- idiomstime flies, hit the sack, seize the day, ring a bell, break a leg
- body idiomsheart of gold, heart of stone, cold heart, warm heart, soft heart
turn a blind eyecall out
Publicly confront or summon
confront · address · take action · intervene · crack down on
turn a blind eyeblow the whistle
Expose hidden wrongdoing
speak up · stand up against · take a stand · hold to account · draw the line
turn a blind eyeexpose
Make known publicly
report · bring to light · sound the alarm · blow the whistle · point out
turn, blind, turning, turned, blindness, turns, blinds, blinding, blinded