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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

In the dog days of summer, there’s no better place to escape the heat than inside the air-conditioned paradise of a movie theater.

From Salon ● Aug. 15, 2026

While many Chinese cities have restricted motorcycling, Chongqing has embraced it and become a biker's paradise.

From Barron's ● Aug. 2, 2026

But the longer we spend time at Arioka, the more that paradise starts resembling a prison.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 30, 2026

Maybe achieving paradise is a matter of having the gift of finding it wherever you might happen to be.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 23, 2026

My mattress, old and lumpy, was now a small piece of paradise, right there in my room.

From "When I Was the Greatest" by Jason Reynolds

The Eaton fire was the state’s second-most destructive fire after the 2018 Camp fire, which killed 85 people and destroyed most of the town of Paradise.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 20, 2026

The median list price of a home on southwest Florida’s Paradise Coast was about $700,000.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 29, 2026

Deputies were initially called at 3:20 a.m. to Pacific Coast Highway, near Paradise Cove Road, for reports of a vehicle that crashed into a pole, said Lt.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 6, 2026

At the heart of it, in what is known as Paradise Park, you will find the Phoenix centre, which has been a focal point for the folk on the hill for 25 years.

From BBC ● Jun. 4, 2026

He was a real serious man, thoughtful and solid, different from Rocky and the other men I had seen in Harlem who hung around Small’s Paradise.

From "The Color of Water: A Black Man's Tribute to His White Mother" by James McBride

“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

Suffice to say they do not find the intellectual paradises they imagined.

From Salon ● Jul. 31, 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