| 1. | Anatomy. a small area on the retina that is insensitive to light due to the interruption, where the optic nerve joins the retina, of the normal pattern of light-sensitive rods and cones. |
| 2. | an area or subject about which one is uninformed, prejudiced, or unappreciative: I confess that operettas are my blind spot. |
| 3. | Radio. an area in which signals are weak and their reception poor. |
| 4. | Also called dead spot. any part of an auditorium, arena, or the like, in which a person is unable to see or hear satisfactorily. |
| 5. | an area to the side and slightly behind a driver's field of vision that is not reflected in the vehicle's rearview mirror. |
| blind spot n.
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A small region in the visual field (the area scanned by the eye) that cannot be seen. The blind spot corresponds to an area in the eye where the optic nerve enters the retina.
Note: In a general sense, the term is used to refer to an inability to see things that might be obvious to another observer: “He has a blind spot as far as his daughter's behavior is concerned.”
blind spot n.
See optic disk.
The area of blindness in the visual field corresponding to the optic disk. Also called physiologic scotoma, punctum cecum.
An area or facet of one's personality of which one remains ignorant or fails to gain understanding. Also called mental scotoma, scotoma.
blind spot  (blīnd) Pronunciation Key
The small region of the retina where fibers of the optic nerve emerge from the eyeball. The blind spot has no rods or cones, so no light or visual image can be transmitted. |
blind spot
Subject about which one is ignorant or biased. For example, The boss has a blind spot about Henry; he wouldn't fire him for anything, or Dad has a blind spot about opera; he can't see anything good about it. This term uses blind in the sense of "covered or hidden from sight." It has two literal meanings: an insensitive part of the retina and an area outside one's field of vision. The phrase has largely replaced blind side, which survives mainly in the verb to blindside, meaning "to hit someone on an unguarded side" and "to deal an unexpected blow." [Mid-1800s]
blind spot
small portion of the visual field of each eye that corresponds to the position of the optic disk (also known as the optic nerve head) within the retina. There are no photoreceptors (i.e., rods or cones) in the optic disk, and, therefore, there is no image detection in this area. The blind spot of the right eye is located to the right of the centre of vision and vice versa in the left eye. With both eyes open, the blind spots are not perceived because the visual fields of the two eyes overlap. Indeed, even with one eye closed, the blind spot can be difficult to detect subjectively because of the ability of the brain to "fill in" or ignore the missing portion of the image
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