blinded

1. 1
   verb

   Simple past and past participle of blind.

   The explosion blinded several workers standing nearby.

   He was blinded in one eye by the accident.

   Note

   The same spelling serves as the simple past (the glare blinded him) and as the participle after have or be (he had been blinded). The verb is regular, so the two forms never differ. The participle also carries the verb's paving use: a newly laid road is blinded when sand and fine gravel are spread to fill its joints. An old slang use of blind meaning 'to curse' is now obsolete.

2. 2
   adjective

   Deprived of sight, permanently or perhaps permanently, through damage to the eyes or brain.

   Doctors confirmed he had been blinded by the head trauma.

   Many blinded patients regain a measure of independence through rehabilitation.

   Similarblind, sightless

   Oppositesighted

   Note

   Here the damage lasts, or may last, and that is what separates it from the passing dazzle or blindfold. Blind and sightless name a condition, but blinded keeps the event in view. It often brings a by-phrase naming the cause, such as an infection passed on at birth or a head injury, and the kind of cause usually tells the reader which sense is meant.

3. 3
   adjective

   Temporarily deprived of sight, either by being dazzled or by being blindfolded.

   Momentarily blinded by the oncoming lights, the driver eased off the gas.

   The prisoner was led, blinded by a hood, into the back of the van.

   Similardazzled, blindfolded

4. 4
   adjective

   Lacking clear judgment or discernment, as from greed or stupidity.

   Like a horse in blinders that can only see straight ahead.

   Blinded by loyalty, she refused to believe the evidence against her friend.

   Voters blinded by anger overlooked the candidate's empty promises.

5. 5
   adjective

   Deliberately kept from knowing information that, if known, could bias a decision or outcome.

   The assessors were blinded to which group each patient belonged to.

   In a blinded trial, neither the patients nor the staff know who received the real drug.

   Similarmasked, blind

   Oppositeopen

   Note

   In research design the blindness is chosen rather than suffered. Masked is used in the same way. The word takes to before whatever is withheld, as in assessors blinded to group assignment. Its opposites are nonblinded and open-label. Open-label describes a trial in which everyone knows what is being given, so a study can be described by either side of the pair.

6. 6
   adjective

   Covered or shaded by window blinds.

   We sat in the blinded study, the slats letting in thin lines of light.

   By noon the entire west wing was blinded to keep the rooms cool.

   Similarshaded

   Note

   This sense comes from the noun, the window blind, not from loss of sight. Blinded windows have their blinds drawn. A phrase like the blinded study can therefore mean a shaded room rather than a research design, and the surrounding context decides which is meant.

7. 7
   adjective

   Showing a particular destination or route number on the destination blinds.

   Two buses waited at the stand, both blinded for the airport express.

   Several trams stood blinded for routes that no longer ran.

   Note

   This sense belongs to buses, and the blinds in question are destination displays, not the window coverings of the window-blind meaning. The usual construction is blinded for followed by a route or a place: blinded for route 100, blinded for downtown. The phrase describes what the display reads, which is why it takes for rather than to.

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