blindness

noun

Etymology: From Middle English blyndnes, blyndnesse, from Old English blindnes (“blindness”), equivalent to blind + -ness.

1. The condition of being blind; unable to see.

   “DHPG […] is effective in fighting Cytomegalovirus (CMV), a common virus which, for PWAs, can cause CMV retinitis — a condition which can lead to blindness within weeks.”

2. Want of intellectual or moral discernment; mental darkness; ignorance, heedlessness.

   “A tormenting hunger shuddered through her and she wished she could put aside the power. Oh, to be as others were — blind in that safest of all blindnesses, living only the hypnoidal half-life into which birth-shock precipitated most humans.”

3. concealment