blindness
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blindness
The medical condition in which a person has completely or almost completely lost the ability to see.
Trotz seiner Blindheit navigiert er mit Hilfe eines Blindenstocks sicher durch die Stadt.
Despite his blindness, he navigates safely through the city with the help of a white cane.
The noun 'Blindheit' (blindness) is derived from the adjective 'blind' (blind). The ending '-heit' is often used in German to form abstract nouns from adjectives that describe a state or quality.
Die Freiheit des Denkens ist ein hohes Gut.
Freedom of thought is a great good.
'Blindheit' (blindness) is an uncountable noun and is almost always used in the singular. It describes the condition as a whole.
Blindheit kann angeboren sein oder durch eine Krankheit verursacht werden.
Blindness can be congenital or caused by a disease.
In a medical context, 'Blindheit' (blindness) is often used with certain verbs and prepositions, for example 'an Blindheit leiden' (to suffer from blindness), 'von Blindheit betroffen sein' (to be affected by blindness), or a disease that 'zur Blindheit führt' (leads to blindness).
Er leidet seit seiner Kindheit an einer Form von Blindheit.
He has suffered from a form of blindness since childhood.
You can often recognize the figurative meaning from an additional adjective (e.g. 'politische Blindheit' (political blindness)) or a preposition that narrows the area of 'Blindheit' (blindness) (e.g. 'Blindheit gegenüber den Fakten' (blindness to the facts)).
Man warf ihm Blindheit gegenüber den Bedürfnissen der Bevölkerung vor.
He was accused of blindness to the needs of the population.
insight / access
'die Einsicht' and 'die Blindheit' are opposites here in a figurative sense. 'Einsicht' means that someone understands and acknowledges a situation or their own mistake. 'Blindheit', on the other hand, means that someone does not recognize, or does not want to recognize, something obvious. With 'Einsicht', a person moves toward understanding. With 'Blindheit', they remain unable or unwilling to see a problem.
Seine Blindheit für die Probleme im Team machte die Arbeit noch schwieriger.
His blindness to the problems in the team made the work even more difficult.
Nach dem Streit kam bei ihm die Einsicht, dass er zu hart reagiert hatte.
After the argument, he came to the realization that he had reacted too harshly.