视而不见
- Literal
- look but not see
- Figurative
- To look right at something and not see it, or to pretend not to; today it is mostly a rebuke to someone who turns a blind eye to an obvious problem.
Where does 视而不见 come from?
It comes from the same sentence in the 大学 chapter of the 《礼记》 that gave us 心不在焉: if the heart is not there, "you look without seeing." In the classical text, not seeing was the involuntary result of having your mind elsewhere. Modern usage has shifted the emphasis: today 视而不见 normally describes someone who does notice but chooses to ignore it, like a manager who would rather not know about wrongdoing, so it almost always carries a note of reproach. That is the difference from 心不在焉, which describes a lapse of attention, not a choice.
Source (出处): 《礼记·大学》
How is 视而不见 used? Two examples
- 家里的碗堆了三天，他每次路过厨房都视而不见。
The dishes have been piling up for three days, and every time he walks past the kitchen he acts as if they aren't there.
- 公司的安全隐患，员工提了好几次，老板却一直视而不见。
Staff have flagged the company's safety hazards several times, but the boss keeps turning a blind eye.
In Wanyu, all 400 chengyu have audio on every sentence, and you can save them to your decks and review them with spaced repetition. Free.
