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Shangri-la

[shang-gruh-lah, shang-gruh-lah]
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noun
  1. an imaginary paradise on earth, especially a remote and exotic utopia.
  2. a faraway haven or hideaway of idyllic beauty and tranquility.
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Origin of Shangri-la

after the fictional Tibetan land of eternal youth in the novel The Lost Horizon (1933) by James Hilton
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
British Dictionary definitions for shangri la

Shangri-la

noun
  1. a remote or imaginary utopia
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Word Origin

C20: from the name of an imaginary valley in the Himalayas, from Lost Horizon (1933), a novel by James Hilton
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 shangri la

Shangri La

n.

imaginary earthly paradise, 1938, from Shangri La, name of Tibetan utopia in James Hilton's novel "Lost Horizon" (1933, film version 1937). In Tibetan, la means "mountain pass."

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
shangri la in Culture

Shangri-La

A fictional land of peace and perpetual youth; the setting for the 1933 novel Lost Horizon by the English author James Hilton, but probably best known from the movie versions. Shangri-La is supposedly in the mountains of Tibet.

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Note

A “Shangri-La,” by extension, is an ideal refuge from the troubles of the world.
The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.