color-blind

adjective

col·​or-blind ˈkə-lər-ˌblīnd 

variants or colorblind

1

: affected with partial or total inability to distinguish one or more chromatic colors

Dull colors are the rule for color-blind animals, like elephants and hippos and rhinos.

—Terence Monmaney

… the examiner in Seattle who had first looked at these capsules couldn't possibly have seen the green specks: he was color-blind.

—David Fisher

It really was an awful garment, that pullover. It had a queasy zigzag pattern, in many strange, unhappy colors. It looked like something knitted as a present by a colorblind aunt.

—Terry Pratchett

2

: not influenced by differences of race (see race entry 1 sense 1a)

a color-blind policy/approach

especially : treating all people the same regardless of race

… a country that prefers to see itself as colorblind.

—Sidsel Overgaard

Note: While sense 2 can be used with positive connotations of freedom from racial prejudice, it often suggests a failure or refusal to acknowledge or address the many racial inequities that exist in society, or to acknowledge important aspects of racial identity.

Equitable instruction isn't colorblind, it is responsive to students' unique and diverse backgrounds, said Imani Goffney, assistant professor of mathematics education at the University of Maryland College of Education's Center for Mathematics Education.

—Lindsay McKenzie

What I learned was that white parents often refrain from speaking with their children about race, racism and racial inequality. If racial discussions do occur they are characterized by a colorblind rhetoric.

—Megan R. Underhill

3

: insensitive, oblivious

We maintain no cash reserves, assuming we can borrow our way out of a crisis. We live as if color-blind to risk.

—Byron Moore

Examples of color-blind in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The conservative majority on the Supreme Court, for its part, regards the Constitution as color-blind—an understanding that leaves little room for policies explicitly tied to race. —Idrees Kahloon, New Yorker, 28 July 2025

The decision of a Maryland district judge, Adam Abelson, enjoining the administration’s anti-DEI policies is especially vulnerable, defying an electoral mandate and the Supreme Court’s own turn to a color-blind constitution. —George Liebmann, Baltimore Sun, 2 July 2025

Rollins had issued a Day One directive rescinding all of her department’s DEI programs and announcing that the USDA is instead prioritizing equality, meritocracy, and color-blind policies. —Mia Cathell, The Washington Examiner, 16 June 2025

There is even research that shows that color-blind men may be less likely to be picky eaters because their inability to discern clearly between colors hinders them from forming an emotional response to a food’s appearance. —Bedatri D. Choudhury, Bon Appetit Magazine, 30 Apr. 2025

Like a relic of the immediate post–civil-rights movement heyday when a motley crew of individuals could come together in voluntary association to uphold and embody a color-blind ideal of justice, order, and community. —Kent Russell, Harper's Magazine, 28 Feb. 2025

But in today’s landscape, her willingness to embrace change, vulnerability, and radical authenticity has only increased her influence among Generation Z—arguably our most color-blind, gender-blind, and age-blind generation. —Jeetendr Sehdev, Forbes, 24 Feb. 2025

The production has been riddled with controversy, from the color-blind casting of Zegler to the CGI dwarfs played by mostly non-dwarf actors to the leads’ outspoken opposing stances on the war in Gaza. —Ben Rosenstock, TIME, 19 Dec. 2024

Kit Connor and Rachel Zegler Celebrate First Performance of Broadway's Romeo + Juliet at Stage Door Bash (Exclusive) Casting, save for our titular characters, is completely gender and color-blind. —Dave Quinn, People.com, 25 Oct. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1847, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for color-blind

• countersigned
• disinclined
• humankind
• interlined
• intertwined
• mastermind
• misaligned
• nonaligned
• predefined
• realigned
• reassigned
• recombined

Kids Definition

color-blind

adjective

col·​or-blind

ˈkəl-ər-ˌblīnd

: being partly or totally unable to recognize one or more colors

color blindness noun

Medical Definition

color-blind

adjective

col·​or-blind ˈkəl-ər-ˌblīnd 

variants or colorblind

: affected with partial or total inability to distinguish one or more chromatic colors