heaven
Americannoun
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heavens
plural
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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.
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(initial capital letter) Often Heavens the celestial powers; God.
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a metonym for God.
May heaven help us!
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(used with a singular verb) heavens, a wooden roof or canopy over the outer stage of an Elizabethan theater.
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Usually heavens. the sky, firmament, or expanse of space surrounding the earth.
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a place or state of supreme happiness.
She made his life a heaven on earth.
interjection
idioms
noun
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(sometimes capital) Christianity
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the abode of God and the angels
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a place or state of communion with God after death Compare hell
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(usually plural) the sky, firmament or space surrounding the earth
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(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
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a place or state of joy and happiness
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God or the gods, used in exclamatory phrases of surprise, exasperation, etc
for heaven's sake
heavens above
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ecstatically happy
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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:
The chicken pieces cook up light and crisp, while the sauce is a little bit of sticky heaven.
From Salon ● Nov. 5, 2026
Cemeteries also provide a necessary reminder to us living of the four last things: death, judgment, heaven and hell, which are too often obscured, especially when the dead are dislocated.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 4, 2026
"If I could obtain my documents, find a job and reunite with my family so we can live together, it would be heaven on Earth."
From Barron's ● Oct. 28, 2026
That’s not your total return because it doesn’t include appreciation — or, heaven forbid, depreciation — of your home.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 29, 2026
And now here I am, sitting in the church, staring at the white spot on my left foot while the minister talks about God and heaven and angels.
From "How to Disappear Completely" by Ali Standish
Written after witnessing her spell-binding Lux tour, Bono describes the "heavens swirling" to reveal "the re-enchantment of the world".
From BBC ● Nov. 6, 2026
They want to pierce the heavens and reach through the atmosphere to grasp the indescribable truth that unites us all.
From Salon ● Nov. 1, 2026
José Rivera’s “Marisol” came out around the same time as Tony Kushner’s “Angels in America,” and both plays, vibrating with millennial anxieties, carry the earthly battle for human survival up to the heavens.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 17, 2026
Inside, the eye immediately travels upward, led by rows of slightly sloping, fluted, twisting columns that seem to soar to the heavens.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026
Scoob steels himself and heads in what he hopes to the high heavens, as Dad likes to say when he’s being more over the top than usual, is the right direction.
From "Clean Getaway" by Nic Stone
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
