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Meaning & use

color blind

adjective·EverydayAmerican

Last updated

UK/ˈkʌlə blaɪnd/
US/ˈkʌlɚ blaɪnd/

Meanings

  1. adjectivenot comparablemedical

    Unable to tell certain colors apart, most often red and green, because of how the eyes work.

    Grammar: Used after a verb or before a noun: he is color blind; a color blind child.

    Patterns

    • color blind to something
    • be color blind

    My brother is color blind and cannot tell the red wire from the green one.

    Many color blind people have trouble reading maps that use red and green.

    She found out she was color blind during a school eye test.

  2. adjectivenot comparablefigurative

    Treating people the same whatever their race, or claiming not to notice racial differences.

    Grammar: Used figuratively and sometimes debated: a color blind policy.

    Patterns

    • color blind approach
    • color blind policy

    The school said its hiring was color blind and based only on skill.

    Some critics say a color blind approach ignores real inequalities.

    He described himself as color blind when it came to choosing friends.

Common combinations

red-green color blind
He is red-green color blind.
color blind test
The doctor gave her a color blind test.
color blind people
Color blind people often use labels to tell clothes apart.
color blind policy
The company said it had a color blind hiring policy.

Synonyms and how they differ

colorblind
Colorblind is simply another spelling, written as one word in many American texts.
color deficient
Color deficient is the more clinical term used by eye doctors, since few people see no color at all.
impartial
Impartial means unbiased in general, so it is broader and does not refer to race or color.

Opposites

color-sighted

Word family

color blindness noun
the condition of being unable to tell some colors apart
colorblind adjective
another spelling of color blind
colorful adjective
having bright or varied colors
blind adjective
unable to see

Commonly confused: color blind or fully blind?

color blind vs fully blind

A fully blind person cannot see at all, while a color blind person sees but cannot tell certain colors apart.

Practice

My uncle is ____, so he sometimes mixes up red and green traffic lights without help from their position.

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