eden

eden — noun

1. according to the book of Genesis, the garden where God placed the first human be

1.nounB2
Definition

according to the book of Genesis, the garden where God placed the first human beings, giving them everything they needed until they broke God's one command and were forced to leave.

Example

The snake in Eden convinced Eve to eat fruit from a forbidden tree.

proper noun: the Garden of Eden

Many European paintings show Adam and Eve living peacefully in Eden before they disobeyed God.

Common collocations
  • the Garden of Eden
  • in Eden
  • from Eden
  • Eden's garden
  • Adam and Eve in Eden
Synonyms
  • paradise

    more general term for any perfect place; Eden specifically refers to the biblical garden

  • heaven

    spiritual afterlife in many religions; Eden was an earthly garden

  • utopia

    an imagined perfect society, not a physical garden created by God

Antonyms
  • hell

    place of punishment, opposite of perfect happiness

Grammar Patterns

the Garden of Eden

in Eden

2. a place that is so beautiful, peaceful, and unspoiled that it feels like a perfe

2.nounC1
Definition

a place that is so beautiful, peaceful, and unspoiled that it feels like a perfect paradise — for example, a tropical island, a hidden valley, or a quiet garden in a busy city.

Example

Tariq described the hidden valley as an eden of wildflowers and crystal-clear streams.

countable: an eden of [something]

The small coral island felt like a tropical eden, with white sand and turquoise water.

Common collocations
  • a tropical eden
  • a private eden
  • an urban eden
  • edens of beauty
  • last eden
Synonyms
  • paradise

    more common in everyday speech; 'eden' has a more literary, formal tone

  • utopia

    focuses on a perfect society, while 'eden' focuses on natural beauty

  • haven

    emphasizes safety and refuge; 'eden' emphasizes beauty and perfection

  • Arcadia

    classical literary term for an unspoiled rural paradise; very rare in modern English

Antonyms
  • wasteland

    barren, damaged land, opposite of lush beauty

Grammar Patterns

an eden of [something]

a/an + adjective + eden

Usage Note

Eden is also used as a family name. Anthony Eden (1897–1977) was a British diplomat who served as Prime Minister from 1955 to 1957. Some dictionaries list this as a separate biographical entry, but it is not a separate sense of the word.

Common Mistakes

This beach is an Garden of Eden.
This beach is a tropical eden.
The capitalized 'Garden of Eden' refers only to the biblical garden; the lowercase 'eden' is used for metaphorical beautiful places.

Word family

  • Edenic
    adjectiveC2
  • Garden of Eden
    noun phraseB2

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

Eden, paradise, heaven, utopia, and Arcadia all describe ideal places, but each has a distinct scope. Eden is the most specific — it refers directly to the biblical garden in Genesis and carries religious overtones of original innocence and a single forbidden act. Paradise is broader: it can mean the same biblical garden (used in some translations), the afterlife in Islam and Christianity, or any perfect place in everyday language ('a tropical paradise'). Heaven is solely a spiritual afterlife realm in many religions; unlike Eden, it cannot be a physical location on Earth. Utopia describes an imagined perfect society or political system (from Thomas More's 1516 book) and focuses on social organization rather than natural beauty. Arcadia is a classical literary term for an idealized rural landscape, common in poetry but rare in modern speech. A valley could be called an Eden for its natural perfection, but a well-run city would be a utopia, not an Eden.

paradise ↗heaven ↗utopiaArcadia

Common collocations

Nouns

  • Garden of Eden
  • eden of beauty
  • tropical eden
  • private eden

Phrases

  • a paradise / an eden
  • lost eden
  • last eden

Prepositions

  • in Eden
  • from Eden
  • an eden of [something]

Etymology

HebrewGreekLatinEnglish

The name Eden comes from the Hebrew word 'ēden (עֵדֶן), meaning 'delight' or 'pleasure.' In the Hebrew Bible, Gan Eden ('Garden of Delight') was the name given to the original home of humankind. The word passed into Greek as 'Edem (Ἐδέμ) in the Septuagint translation, then into Latin as Eden in the Vulgate Bible, and finally into English, where it has been used since the Middle English period. Some scholars connect the Hebrew form to the Sumerian word 'edin' meaning 'plain' or 'steppe,' suggesting a possible geographic origin in Mesopotamia. The metaphorical meaning — any place of perfect beauty — developed in English by the 1600s.