double-blind

American

[duhb-uhl-blahynd] / ˈdʌb əlˈblaɪnd /

adjective

of or relating to an experiment or clinical trial in which neither the subjects nor the researchers know which subjects are receiving the active medication, treatment, etc., and which are not: a technique for eliminating subjective bias from the test results.

double-blind British

adjective

of or relating to an experiment to discover reactions to certain commodities, drugs, etc, in which neither the experimenters nor the subjects know the particulars of the test items during the experiments Compare single-blind

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of double-blind

First recorded in 1935–40

Compare meaning

How does double-blind compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

single-blind vs. double-blind

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Dr. Prasad seems to believe the cost for drugs that receive accelerated approval exceed their benefits and that nothing short of large double-blind randomized controlled trials should be sufficient to prove a medicine’s efficacy.

From The Wall Street Journal

The studies were double-blind, meaning neither participants nor researchers knew who received statins or who received the comparison treatment, reducing the risk of bias.

From Science Daily

Lamphere and her therapists had known it was possible she would be assigned to the placebo group—the clinical trial she was in had a double-blind placebo arm; the study’s sponsors were collecting data they eventually planned to use in an FDA drug application.

From Slate

Today double-blind placebo-controlled trials are the gold standard in the FDA approval process: Participants are given either a drug or something that looks like one.

From Slate

The study is double-blind, meaning neither the patients nor the researchers know which treatment each participant receives until the trial ends.

From Science Daily

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023