turning a blind eye
Pretending not noticing
Turning a blind eye is deliberately ignoring something you know exists or is happening: Management turned a blind eye to the safety violations.
The phrase suggests willful refusal to acknowledge wrongdoing rather than genuine ignorance.
Someone who turns a blind eye chooses not to see what would be inconvenient or troublesome to address.
- connivanceWillful blindness to wrongdoing
- willful ignorancePurposely remaining uninformed
- willful blindnessConscious avoidance of knowledge
- collusionFraudulent secret cooperation
- ignoreRefuse to notice
overlook · let slide · let it go · complicity · condone · winking · culpability · avoidance · pass over · permissiveness · denial · self-deception · head in sand · acquiescence · see no evil · indifference · tacit approval · plausible deniability
- Willful Ignorancehead in sand, looking away, blinders, selective attention
- complianceaudit, obeying, policy, compliance officer, regulation
- bending rulesloopholes, skirting, exploits, workarounds, cutting corners
turning a blind eyetaking notice
Becoming aware of something
keeping an eye on · staying alert · noticing · keeping watch
turning a blind eyecalling out
Publicly confronting behavior
confronting · holding accountable · blowing the whistle · whistleblowing · taking action
turning a blind eyescrutinizing
Examining something very closely
watching like a hawk · policing · auditing · investigating · inspecting
turn, return, blind, turned, overturn, returning, blinding, blinded, overturned