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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

From Leonardo DiCaprio’s 104-acre escape off the coast of Belize to Johnny Depp’s idyllic Bahamian getaway, these stars have spent millions securing their own slices of paradise.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 1, 2026

Minsal, a desert-loving, kilt-wearing muralist of Mexican-Scottish descent, painted a layered picture of social pressure and government neglect that have turned his childhood paradise into what he calls an ecological disaster.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 28, 2026

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

From Barron's ● Aug. 2, 2026

Bali, Indonesia's famed tropical paradise, has become a hostspot for digital nomads in recent years, resulting in growing tensions between expats and locals.

From BBC ● Jul. 27, 2026

I am either in a cathedral or in paradise, I think.

From "Blood on the River" by Elisa Carbone

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

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

David Woolcock, curator at Paradise Park, said staff were pleased to be sourcing the fish locally.

From BBC ● Aug. 15, 2026

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

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 29, 2026

Mr. Hale paced the room, talking to us about the opening moments of Paradise Lost.

From "Tradition" by Brendan Kiely

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

From BBC ● Nov. 22, 2024

County residents who’ve taken out their lawns and transformed their yards into fragrant, leafy, low-water paradises — often with a DIY approach.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 2, 2022

On Saturday they endorsed a global minimum tax on corporations, a linchpin of new international tax rules aimed at blunting fiscal paradises amid skyrocketing profits of some multinationals.

From Seattle Times ● Oct. 31, 2021

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

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