paradise

[par-uh-dahys, -dahyz]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR paradise ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

heaven, as the final abode of the righteous.

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

(often initial capital letter) Eden¹(def 1).

a place of extreme beauty, delight, or happiness.

a state of supreme happiness; bliss.

Architecture.

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

(initial capital letter, italics) Italian Pa·ra·di·so

[pah-rah-dee-zaw] /ˌpɑ rɑˈdi zɔ/. the third and concluding part of Dante's Divine Comedy, depicting heaven, through which he is guided by Beatrice.Compare inferno(def 3), purgatory(def 2).

Origin of paradise

before 1000; Middle English, Old English paradīs < Late Latin paradīsus < Greek parádeisos park, pleasure-grounds < Iranian; compare Avestan pairi-daēza enclosure

Paradise

[par-uh-dahys, -dahyz]

noun

a town in N California.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for paradise

utopia, heaven, bliss, wonderland, Eden, delight, felicity, Shangri-la, Arcadia, Zion, ballpark

Examples from the Web for paradise

Contemporary Examples of paradise

Flesh encircled him at the main pool of the Paradise Hotel and Residences at Boca.
Powerful Congressman Writes About ‘Fleshy Breasts’
Asawin Suebsaeng
January 7, 2015
Julia Cooke is the author of The Other Side of Paradise: Life in the New Cuba.
Book Bag: Great Books About Cuba
Julia Cooke
December 20, 2014
“Paradise lies at the feet of mothers,” Erdogan said on Monday, quoting the Prophet Muhammad.
Allah, Mom, and Baklava: Turkish President Uses Mothers and Kids as Political Pawns
Xanthe Ackerman
November 27, 2014
In Turkey, some mothers find their paradise at the Esme Beltagy Center in Esenler, while others see paradise receding.
Allah, Mom, and Baklava: Turkish President Uses Mothers and Kids as Political Pawns
Xanthe Ackerman
November 27, 2014
It may have looked like paradise, but a rebellion was brewing around the Davises.
‘Argo’ in the Congo: The Ghosts of the Stanleyville Hostage Crisis
Nina Strochlic
November 23, 2014

Historical Examples of paradise

It caused them to fight for the sole possession of this Paradise upon Earth.
Ancient Man
Hendrik Willem van Loon
Such ideas as Paradise, Adam and Eve, and angels, are getting obsolete.
Punchinello, Vol. 1, No. 7, May 14, 1870
Various
What a paradise this would be for the botanist in spring, or for the portrait painter!
The Roof of France
Matilda Betham-Edwards
This farm was the nearest he would ever come to a paradise and on it he would be his own God.
Dust
Mr. and Mrs. Haldeman-Julius
"I modestly but freely told him what I thought" of Paradise Lost!
The Works of Whittier, Volume VI (of VII)
John Greenleaf Whittier

British Dictionary definitions for paradise

paradise

noun

heaven as the ultimate abode or state of the righteous

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

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

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

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

a park in which foreign animals are kept

Word Origin for paradise

Old English, from Church Latin paradīsus, from Greek paradeisos garden, of Persian origin; compare Avestan pairidaēza enclosed area, from pairi- around + daēza wall

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

Word Origin and History for paradise

late 12c., "Garden of Eden," from Old French paradis "paradise, Garden of Eden" (11c.), from Late Latin paradisus, from Greek paradeisos "park, paradise, Garden of Eden," from an Iranian source, cf. Avestan pairidaeza "enclosure, park" (Modern Persian and Arabic firdaus "garden, paradise"), compound of pairi- "around" + diz "to make, form (a wall)."

The first element is cognate with Greek peri- "around, about" (see per), the second is from PIE root *dheigh- "to form, build" (see dough).

The Greek word, originally used for an orchard or hunting park in Persia, was used in Septuagint to mean "Garden of Eden," and in New Testament translations of Luke xxiii:43 to mean "heaven" (a sense attested in English from c.1200). Meaning "place like or compared to Paradise" is from c.1300.

paradise in Culture

paradise

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

Idioms and Phrases with paradise

paradise

see fool's paradise.