snow blindness

noun

: inflammation and photophobia caused by exposure of the eyes to ultraviolet rays reflected from snow or ice

snow-blind

ˈsnō-ˌblīnd 

adjective

or snow-blinded

ˈsnō-ˌblīn-dəd 

Examples of snow blindness in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The technology has certainly come a long way from when Inuit hunter-gatherers used to wear caribou antlers carved with thin slits in order to prevent snow blindness. —Todd Plummer, Robb Report, 21 Feb. 2025

For anyone who’s been lucky enough not to experience it, snow blindness—technically called ultraviolet (UV) keratitis—happens when your corneas are exposed to too much ultraviolet light, which reflects off snow. —Kristin Canning, SELF, 6 Feb. 2025

It’s also known as snow blindness or welder’s flash when it’s caused by sunlight reflecting off snow in arctic conditions or the light from a welder’s torch. —Daniel Wu, Washington Post, 9 Apr. 2024

In airy PS 64 Frederick Law Olmsted, in affluent, white north Buffalo, 22 would-be Arctic explorers wrestled with how to build a shelter if their team leader had frostbite and snow blindness. —NBC News, 14 Oct. 2020

Another challenge for those who lived in Arctic regions was snow blindness. —Emma Yasinski, Discover Magazine, 16 Mar. 2021

Protecting your eyes from snow blindness is no joke. —Mike Richard, Men's Health, 16 Sep. 2022

This is part of the snow blindness created by oppression in this country by a dominant group. —Maureen Lee Lenker, EW.com, 23 Mar. 2022

Of all the horrors of a 19th-century European voyage to the Arctic—noses and cheeks turned necrotic by frostbite, snow blindness, sea madness, broken bones badly knit—perhaps most ghastly was scurvy. —Bathsheba Demuth, The Atlantic, 22 Sep. 2021

Word History

First Known Use

1748, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for snow blindness

• unkindness
• kindness

Kids Definition

snow blindness

noun

: inflammation and inability to stand light caused by glare reflected from snow or ice

Medical Definition

snow blindness

noun

: inflammation and photophobia caused by exposure of the eyes to ultraviolet rays reflected from snow or ice