🇯🇵Japanese Source WordCode: JA

見ないふりをする

Pronunciation / Transliteration: minai furi o suru

🇬🇧 Direct English Meaning:
Turn a blind eye/tɜːn ə blaɪnd aɪ/
verb phraseCEFR C1 (Advanced)Top #3400 frequency
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🇯🇵 Example Sentence in Japanese:

"彼女はそのミスを見ないふりをした。"

Comprehensive Definitions & Senses

2 senses
As verb phrase
  1. 1

    To pretend not to notice something, especially something bad, illegal, or wrong that is happening.

    "The authorities cannot afford to turn a blind eye to environmental violations anymore."
  2. 2

    To deliberately choose to ignore a fault, error, or infraction committed by someone else.

    "Teachers sometimes turn a blind eye to minor infractions if students show genuine remorse."

Thesaurus & Semantic Spectrum

Antonyms & Contrasting Words (1)

Linguistic Origin & Historical Etymology

Originating in the late 17th or early 18th century, this idiom is famously attributed to British Admiral Horatio Nelson at the Battle of Copenhagen in 1801, where he put his telescope to his blind eye to willfully ignore a signal from his superior officer to cease action. Over time, the nautical anecdote broadened into a general metaphor for deliberately ignoring undesirable facts, misconduct, or unpleasant truths.

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