BLINDNESS

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does blindness mean? 

• BLINDNESS (noun)
  The noun BLINDNESS has 1 sense:

1. the state of being blind or lacking sight

  Familiarity information: BLINDNESS used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• BLINDNESS (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The state of being blind or lacking sight

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Synonyms:

blindness; cecity; sightlessness

Hypernyms ("blindness" is a kind of...):

vision defect; visual defect; visual disorder; visual impairment (impairment of the sense of sight)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "blindness"):

legal blindness (vision that is 20/200 or worse in both eyes (20/200 vision is the ability to see at 20 feet what a normal eye can see at 200 feet))

anopia (sightlessness (especially because of a structural defect in or the absence of an eye))

snow-blindness; snowblindness (temporary blindness caused by exposure to sunlight reflected from snow or ice)

eyelessness (blindness due to loss of the eyes)

figural blindness (inability to see shapes and contours)

Derivation:

blind (unable to see)

 Context examples 

Without treatment, cataracts can cause blindness.

(Cataract, NCI Dictionary)

It may cause blindness and lethal lung edema and was formerly used as a war gas.

(Bischloroethylsulfide, NLM, Medical Subject Headings)

Most of the time, color blindness is genetic.

(Color Blindness, NIH)

They may be physical, such as blindness.

(Developmental Disabilities, NIH: National Institute of Child Health and Human Development)

It includes cataract, glaucoma, retinopathy, and blindness.

(Diabetic Eye Disease, NCI Thesaurus)

More serious problems can include meningitis, blood clots, inflammation of the digestive system and blindness.

(Behcet's Syndrome, NIH: National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases)

The neuro-ocular form may cause blindness and death.

(Behcet syndrome, NLM, Medical Subject Headings)

Without proper medical care, diabetes can lead to heart attack, stroke, blindness, kidney failure and nerve damage.

(Colored Rice May Brighten the Menu for Diabetics in the Future, U.S. Department of Agriculture)

Poisonous snake bites kill about 90,000 people a year, thousands more than other deadly NTDs, and leave a further 400,000 with lost limbs, blindness and trauma.

(Snakebite resolution set for Health Assembly approval, SciDev.Net)

High blood glucose levels can lead to heart disease, blindness, and other health problems over time.

(Developing Insulin-Producing Cells to Treat Diabetes, NIH)