Turn a blind eye means to see a problem or something against the rules and deliberately pretend you haven't noticed it. It's usually about small offences that a boss, teacher or parent puts up with. Curiously, only one eye goes blind in English: a blind eye.
When would you say turn a blind eye?
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turn a blind eye + to + noun/-ing; turn a blind eye (without object)
- Our boss turns a blind eye to people arriving ten minutes late.
- Parents sometimes turn a blind eye when kids stay up a bit longer on holiday.
- The city has turned a blind eye to illegal parking near the station for years.
What changed
First versionTeachers often turn a blind eye on phones in the back row.
RevisionTeachers often turn a blind eye to phones in the back row.
On can feel natural here, as if your eye were resting on the thing you ignore. But in this idiom, what you ignore always comes after to: turn a blind eye to phones. Only the preposition was changed.
Look the other way means almost the same thing, to pretend you don't see what's happening: The police looked the other way. The difference is grammatical: after turn a blind eye, the thing you ignore comes with to, while look the other way needs no preposition at all.
Your turn
Our manager knows that people leave early on Fridays, but he turns a blind eye ___ it.
Show the answer
to — In this idiom, the thing people ignore is introduced only with to. On may seem logical, but native speakers don't say turn a blind eye on.
Describe a small breach of the rules that someone turns a blind eye to. Say who this person is and why they don't step in.
My landlord turns a blind eye to our cat because we always pay the rent on time.
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