VISUAL IMPAIRMENT

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does visual impairment mean? 

• VISUAL IMPAIRMENT (noun)
  The noun VISUAL IMPAIRMENT has 1 sense:

1. impairment of the sense of sight

  Familiarity information: VISUAL IMPAIRMENT used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• VISUAL IMPAIRMENT (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Impairment of the sense of sight

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Synonyms:

vision defect; visual defect; visual disorder; visual impairment

Hypernyms ("visual impairment" is a kind of...):

disability; disablement; handicap; impairment (the condition of being unable to perform as a consequence of physical or mental unfitness)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "visual impairment"):

day blindness; hemeralopia (inability to see clearly in bright light)

xanthopsia (visual defect in which objects appear to have a yellowish hue; sometimes occurs in cases of jaundice)

tunnel vision (visual impairment involving a loss of peripheral vision)

scotoma (an isolated area of diminished vision within the visual field)

detached retina; detachment of the retina; retinal detachment (visual impairment resulting from the retina becoming separated from the choroid in the back of the eye; treated by photocoagulation)

photoretinitis (damage to the retina resulting from exposure of the eye to the sun without adequate protection)

moon blindness; night blindness; nyctalopia (inability to see clearly in dim light; due to a deficiency of vitamin A or to a retinal disorder)

metamorphopsia (a defect of vision in which objects appear to be distorted; usually due to a defect in the retina)

quadrantanopia (blindness in one fourth of the visual field)

hemianopia; hemianopsia (blindness in one half of the visual field of one or both eyes)

amaurosis (partial or total loss of sight without pathology of the eye; caused by disease of optic nerve or retina or brain)

diplopia; double vision (visual impairment in which an object is seen as two objects)

color blindness; color vision deficiency; colour blindness; colour vision deficiency (genetic inability to distinguish differences in hue)

blindness; cecity; sightlessness (the state of being blind or lacking sight)

aphakia (absence of the natural lens of the eye (usually resulting from the removal of cataracts))

anorthopia (distorted vision in which straight lines appear curved)

aniseikonia (visual defect in which the shape and size of an ocular image differ in the two eyes)

ametropia ((ophthalmology) faulty refraction of light rays in the eye as in astigmatism or myopia)

amblyopia (visual impairment without apparent organic pathology)

 Context examples 

Dry eye disease occurs when the film that coats the eye no longer maintains a healthy ocular surface, which can lead to discomfort and visual impairment.

(Omega-3s from fish oil supplements no better than placebo for dry eye, National Institutes of Health)

Clinical signs include altered mental status, visual impairment and decreased muscle coordination.

(Alcohol-Induced Wernicke-Korsakoff's Syndrome, NCI Thesaurus)

Clinical signs include obesity, short stature, pubertal delay, hypogonadism, visual impairment, polydipsia and polyuria.

(Frohlich Syndrome, NCI Thesaurus)

A division of the National Eye Institute that has the mission to plan, develop, and conduct human population studies concerned with the cause, prevention, and treatment of eye disease and vision disorders, with emphasis on the major causes of blindness and visual impairment.

(Division of Epidemiology and Clinical Applications, NCI Thesaurus)