blind leading blind

Meaning

1. 1phraseidiomfigurative

   A situation in which someone who knows very little tries to guide or teach another person who knows just as little.

   Grammar: Often follows it was or it felt like, as in it was the blind leading the blind.

   Patterns

   • it is a case of the blind leading the blind

   Neither of us had built a shed before, so it was the blind leading the blind.

   Asking a first-year student to train new interns is the blind leading the blind.

   The study group felt like the blind leading the blind until the tutor arrived.

Common combinations

a case of the blind leading the blind

With no expert present, it was a case of the blind leading the blind.

feel like the blind leading the blind

The new-team meeting felt like the blind leading the blind.

sound like the blind leading the blind

Their advice about taxes sounds like the blind leading the blind.

end up as the blind leading the blind

Peer tutoring can end up as the blind leading the blind.

Synonyms and how they differ

amateur hour

Amateur hour mocks general incompetence, whereas the blind leading the blind specifically describes one unskilled person guiding another.

two novices

Two novices simply describes inexperience, while the idiom adds the idea that following the guide may lead both astray.

misguided guidance

Misguided guidance is a plain description, while the idiom is a vivid picture of ignorance guiding ignorance.

Opposites

Word family

blind adjective

unable to see

blindly adverb

without seeing or thinking carefully

blindness noun

the state of being unable to see

lead verb

to guide or go in front

Commonly confused: blind leading blind or the pot calling the kettle black?

Practice

Make it your own

Write a sentence using “blind leading blind”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.

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