with eyes closed

4.9

To do something easily without thinking because you trust or know it well

idiom

Informal

: a ciegas

The singer sang with eyes closed, fully immersed in the music and feeling every note.

Examples

She walked through the dark room with eyes closed.
After years of practice, she could bake the cake with eyes closed.
He accepted the job offer with eyes closed, trusting his friend's advice.
They would follow their leader with eyes closed, believing in her completely.
He jumped into the pool with eyes closed!
She danced gracefully with her eyes closed, trusting her body to remember the steps.
He walked through the familiar path with eyes closed, relying on his instinct to guide him.

Antonyms

hesitantly

14 3.2

In a slow, unsure way because of doubt

with eyes open

1 5.4

Acting while fully aware of what could go wrong

How Confident

with eyes closed

Informal

4.9

confidently

36 2.9

cautiously

70 2.3

hesitantly

14 3.2

Surface Forms

with eyes closed positive

Morphology

with + eye + closed

The constituent meanings ('with' marking manner + 'eyes' + 'closed') describe a literal state that readily suggests doing something without seeing or relying on other senses. Inferring the idiomatic senses (doing something easily, blindly, or with complete trust) requires a pragmatic/metaphorical leap from the literal image, so the relation is partly predictable but not fully transparent. Cross-linguistic parallels exist, which helps access, but a B1 learner would likely need some exposure to fix the exact idiomatic nuance.

Etymology

With eyes closed comes from the simple picture of someone doing a task with their eyes closed. That shows they are very sure or have practised a lot, so it now means 'doing something without hesitation or with complete trust'.