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• paradise
  paradise

  noun

  heaven, as the final abode of the righteous.
• Paradise
  Paradise

  noun

  a town in N California.

paradise

¹ American  

[par-uh-dahys, -dahyz] / ˈpær əˌdaɪs, -ˌdaɪz /

noun

• paradises
  plural

1. heaven, as the final abode of the righteous.

2. an intermediate place for the departed souls of the righteous awaiting resurrection.

3. (often initial capital letter) Eden.

4. a place of extreme beauty, delight, or happiness.

5. a state of supreme happiness; bliss.

6. Architecture.

   1. parvis.

   2. an enclosure beside a church, as an atrium or cloister.

7. Italian Paradiso. (initial capital letter, italics) the third and concluding part of Dante's Divine Comedy, depicting heaven, through which he is guided by Beatrice.

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Paradise ² American  

[par-uh-dahys, -dahyz] / ˈpær əˌdaɪs, -ˌdaɪz /

noun

1. a town in N California.

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paradise British  

/ ˈpærəˌdaɪs /

noun

1. heaven as the ultimate abode or state of the righteous

2. Islam the sensual garden of delights that the Koran promises the faithful after death

3. Also called: limbo. (according to some theologians) the intermediate abode or state of the just prior to the Resurrection of Jesus, as in Luke 23:43

4. the place or state of happiness enjoyed by Adam before the first sin; the Garden of Eden

5. any place or condition that fulfils all one's desires or aspirations

6. a park in which foreign animals are kept

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paradise Cultural  

1. A place or state of pure happiness. Christians (see also Christian) have identified paradise both with the Garden of Eden and with heaven.

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paradise Idioms  

1. see fool's paradise.

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• paradises
  plural

Etymology

Origin of paradise

First recorded before 1000; Middle English, Old English paradīs, from Late Latin paradīsus, from Greek parádeisos “park, pleasure-grounds,” from Old Iranian; compare Avestan pairi-daēza “enclosure”; akin to Greek perí peri- ( def. ), teîkhos “mound, wall”

Explanation

In some religions, paradise is considered the ultimate destination, but in general, it's any place that is ideal and free from worry. Eden, Shangri-la, or even the corner nail salon — each might represent paradise to someone. Paradise comes from the Greek paradeisos meaning "park, paradise, Garden of Eden." The Garden of Eden was a paradise free from all worries until Eve ate the apple that broke the dream. Often when you see advertisements for tourism in the Caribbean, a sense of paradise is evoked by the beautiful images and carefree descriptions.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

paradise Paradise paradises

Leo cautioned against "losing our humanity amid a paradise of machines" in wide-ranging remarks to Church and state officials at the Élysée Palace.

From BBC ● Sep. 26, 2026

One Swiss visitor recorded Elizabeth as “most lavishly attired in a gown of pure white satin, gold-embroidered, with a whole bird of paradise for panache, set forward on her head studded with costly jewels.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 25, 2026

As I moved from darkened room to darkened room, ridiculed in one, flirted with in another, a thread of finding one’s own personal paradise in a hellscape began to emerge.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 18, 2026

However, owning a piece of that paradise is, sadly, still out of her reach, she noted.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 4, 2026

This place was, of course, a paradise for a boy to be in.

From "The Once and Future King" by T. H. White

For some of the best local cuisine, you’ll have to leave the confines of Paradise Bay.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 7, 2026

Keep the analog vibe going just a few blocks away at Paradise Found Records & Music.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 27, 2026

In 2004, long before Spiderman, Andrew Garfield was in Cares, while Maxime Peake appeared more recently in 2015 and the following year Don Warrington swapped Death in Paradise to play King Lear.

From BBC ● Sep. 18, 2026

The company has been implicated in several wildfires, including the 2018 Camp Fire that destroyed the town of Paradise, Calif., in a rural area about 90 miles north of Sacramento.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 31, 2026

It was at this time that I changed from my old numbers man, the one I’d used since I first worked in Small’s Paradise.

From "The Autobiography of Malcolm X" by Alex Malcolm X;Hailey

“Sinkholes are paradises for many rare and endangered plant species. We are continuing to make new discoveries.”

From BBC ● Nov. 22, 2024

Neither Amsterdam nor Brussels were pedestrian paradises in the 1970s.

From Seattle Times ● Apr. 6, 2022

White understands the nuances of class struggle and how manicured paradises have a way of relaxing the unsuspecting into dropping their masks.

From Salon ● Jul. 11, 2021

When Sharks Attack Vacations become nightmares when island paradises are rocked by shark attacks.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 29, 2020

Some scholars imagine ancient hunter-gatherer societies as peaceful paradises, and argue that war and violence began only with the Agricultural Revolution, when people started to accumulate private property.

From "Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind" by Yuval Noah Harari

Related Words

• bliss
• heaven
• utopia
• wonderland