One of the mysteries of the English language finally explained.
Refuse to notice or acknowledge something unwelcome or unpleasant.‘he couldn't close his eyes to the truth—he had cancer’
disregard, ignore, dismiss, shrug off, pass over, put aside, sweep aside, wave asideView synonyms
- ‘Then I could so easily close my eyes to all that is happening around me and my family, roll over and fall into a deep sound sleep.’
- ‘If we refuse than God closes his eyes to us forever.’
- ‘If that does not come to be and we stay at Bootham Crescent then great but I have to close my eyes to that.’
- ‘What a pity that so many writers who, in other circumstances, are optimists about human progress, should shut their eyes to what is happening.’
- ‘But the mere fact that she shut her eyes to what you regard as the obvious is not enough.’
- ‘When you seem to be closing your eyes to 99% of the world, why should we listen to have to say about politics?’
- ‘We will close our eyes to what has happened in the past, because we will make peace and togetherness a pattern of our lives,’ he said.’
- ‘The trouble with the Bahamas, is that once you are on the limestone rock, it seductively closes your eyes to what can be, as it tries to engulf in its own slow rhythms.’
- ‘Once you close your eyes to what the other half is saying, you're half blind.’
- ‘But signs of it exist and it would be foolish to close your eyes to that.’
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