face blindness
noun
variants
or less commonly facial blindness
medical
: a form of visual agnosia characterized by an inability to recognize faces : prosopagnosia
… my face blindness is pretty mild. I recognize most of my family members, but when I attend my wife's family functions, I am often lost.—The Buffalo (New York) News
People with face blindness see individual features, such as the eyes, nose and mouth, but lack the ability to integrate them into a coherent, recognisable face.—Rebecca Ley
Some people are born with face blindness … while others lose the ability to identify faces from brain damage, typically caused by a stroke or brain injury.—Karen Weintraub
… the award-winning actor says in a new interview with GQ that he suffers from facial blindness, also known as prosopagnosia, causing him to struggle to remember people's faces.—Chloe Melas
Cite this Entry
“Face blindness.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/face%20blindness. Accessed 7 Jul. 2026.
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