heaven
Americannoun
-
heavens
plural
-
the abode of God, the angels, and the spirits of the righteous after death; the place or state of existence of the blessed after the mortal life.
-
(initial capital letter) Often Heavens the celestial powers; God.
-
a metonym for God.
May heaven help us!
-
(used with a singular verb) heavens, a wooden roof or canopy over the outer stage of an Elizabethan theater.
-
Usually heavens. the sky, firmament, or expanse of space surrounding the earth.
-
a place or state of supreme happiness.
She made his life a heaven on earth.
interjection
idioms
noun
-
(sometimes capital) Christianity
-
the abode of God and the angels
-
a place or state of communion with God after death Compare hell
-
-
(usually plural) the sky, firmament or space surrounding the earth
-
(in any of various mythologies) a place, such as Elysium or Valhalla, to which those who have died in the gods' favour are brought to dwell in happiness
-
a place or state of joy and happiness
-
God or the gods, used in exclamatory phrases of surprise, exasperation, etc
for heaven's sake
heavens above
-
ecstatically happy
-
to do everything possible (to achieve something)
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of heaven
First recorded before 900; Middle English heven, Old English heofon; cognate with Middle Low German heven; akin to Old Norse himinn, Gothic himins, German Himmel
Explanation
Heaven is a place that seems absolutely perfect in every way. You can think of it as the lofty heavens up above, or as a place of everlasting bliss. The places you think of as heaven could also be called "paradise" or "Eden." All of these words are based on a religious idea of heaven as a perfect, blissful existence that's granted to good people after they die. This spiritual heaven is generally depicted as the place where God lives, and is commonly described as being high in the sky. In fact, the original meaning of the Old English heaven, heofon, was "sky."
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.
See Examples For:
Olives and cheese are a match made in heaven.
From Salon ● Jul. 7, 2026
I speculate that Martha Jefferson’s death was in Thomas’s mind when, in the “Notes,” he mentioned “those numberless afflictions, which render it doubtful whether heaven has given life to us in mercy or in wrath.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 26, 2026
Want emails or financial records or, heaven forbid, anything from the police?
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 25, 2026
Though approached differently, the two camps are assembling an ecosystem of capabilities: rockets to reach space, data centers among the stars and satellites to beam data between heaven and earth.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 31, 2026
After all, if there is no God, there is no heaven.
From "Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea" by Charles Seife
I’ve always tried to find a way between what came from the heavens, fate and what I can do myself.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 6, 2026
On one occasion, when he played missed, he yelled to the heavens in frustration, then celebrated when he toe-ended to third man for four.
From BBC ● Jul. 7, 2026
And former reality TV star Spencer Pratt relayed a message from the heavens.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 4, 2026
The work suggests Dante recognized meteors as real geological forces at a time when Aristotelian beliefs still portrayed the heavens as perfect and unchanging.
From Science Daily ● May 11, 2026
Thank heavens Mom took Clem out for a walk in the park while Miranda showed me her room.
From "The World According to Humphrey" by Betty G. Birney
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
