idiom (phrasal) · formal
turn a blind eye to
UK/tɜːn ə blaɪnd aɪ tə/US/tɝːn ə blaɪnd aɪ tu/turn a BLIND eye to
to deliberately ignore something bad or illegal
Examples
“Officials often turn a blind eye to minor breaches of the law.”
“We cannot turn a blind eye to the environmental damage caused by industry.”
“The manager turned a blind eye to the safety lapses until an accident occurred.”
Band 8 sentence
“Governments must not turn a blind eye to exploitation if they are to claim moral authority.”
Collocations
- turn a blind eye to corruption
- turn a blind eye to safety breaches
Word family
Common mistakes
turn blind eye→turn a blind eye to
make a blind eye→turn a blind eye to
Say it for a higher band
5ignore→6look the other way→7+turn a blind eye to
Synonyms
ignore deliberately
look the other way
Easily confused
look the other way
“Police often looked the other way when minor infractions occurred.”
ignore deliberately
“The manager deliberately ignored the complaint.”
Related words
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