paradise

paradise — noun

1. somewhere or some situation that feels wonderful because everything you want is

1.nounC1
Definition

somewhere or some situation that feels wonderful because everything you want is there — for example, a quiet beach for a tired traveller, or a city full of bookshops for a reader.

Example

For Lina, the small island near Penghu was a quiet paradise after her busy year.

noun + for + person

Ximending is a paradise for teenagers who love street food and fashion shops.

a paradise for [group of people]

Common collocations
  • a shopper's paradise
  • a paradise for [hikers/foodies/birdwatchers]
  • tropical paradise
  • tax paradise
Synonyms
  • haven

    stresses safety and shelter; paradise stresses delight

  • utopia

    imagined ideal society, more abstract and political

  • heaven on earth

    informal phrase, often hyperbolic

Antonyms
  • hell

    informal: a place or situation that feels terrible

  • nightmare

    stresses fear or stress rather than misery

Grammar Patterns

a paradise for [people / activity]

[noun]'s paradise

Usage Note

Often appears with 'a' and a modifier naming who or what it's perfect for: 'a shopper's paradise', 'a paradise for hikers'. Distinguish from sense 2 (the religious afterlife): this sense names an earthly place or feeling, not heaven.

Common Mistakes

Tokyo is paradise of food.
Tokyo is a paradise for food lovers.
use 'a paradise for [people]', not 'paradise of [thing]'.

2. in many religions, the happy place where the souls of good people are believed t

2.nounC1
Definition

in many religions, the happy place where the souls of good people are believed to live forever after death.

Example

The old priest told the children that kind people go to paradise after they die.

go to paradise (no article)

At the funeral, Aunt Rosa said quietly that her brother was now in paradise.

in paradise (preposition + noun)

Common collocations
  • go to paradise
  • enter paradise
  • in paradise
  • the gates of paradise
Synonyms
  • heaven

    the most common everyday word; paradise sounds more poetic or scriptural

  • the hereafter

    general term for life after death, neutral about the destination

Antonyms
  • hell

    the place of punishment in the same religious systems

Grammar Patterns

go to paradise

in paradise

Usage Note

Typically used without 'the' or 'a' when meaning the afterlife: 'go to paradise', 'in paradise'. Often capitalised as 'Paradise' in religious writing. Distinguish from sense 1, which can be any earthly place that feels perfect.

Common Mistakes

After he died, he went to the paradise.
After he died, he went to paradise.
no article when referring to the afterlife.

3. in the Bible, the beautiful garden where the first man and woman, Adam and Eve,

3.nounC2
Definition

in the Bible, the beautiful garden where the first man and woman, Adam and Eve, were said to have lived before they were sent away by God.

Example

The painting shows Adam and Eve walking together in paradise among bright flowers and tame animals.

in paradise (Eden reference)

After they ate the forbidden fruit, the story says, Adam and Eve were driven out of paradise.

driven out of paradise

Common collocations
  • expelled from paradise
  • driven out of paradise
  • the gate of paradise
  • lost paradise
Synonyms
  • Eden

    the more direct biblical name for the same garden

  • the Garden of Eden

    full formal name; paradise is the shorter literary form

Grammar Patterns

the Garden of Paradise

expelled from paradise

Usage Note

Restricted to Biblical or literary contexts referring specifically to Eden. Distinguish from sense 2: sense 2 is where good souls go after death; sense 3 is the original garden on earth where humans first lived. Often interchangeable with 'Eden' or 'the Garden of Eden'.

Common Mistakes

Adam and Eve lived in the heaven.
Adam and Eve lived in paradise.
for the Eden story, use 'paradise', not 'heaven'.

Word family

  • paradisiacal
    adjectiveC2
  • paradisaical
    adjectiveC2

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

All four words name a place or state that feels wonderfully right, but they highlight different things. 'Paradise' stresses pure delight and the feeling that every wish is met — a tropical paradise, a shopper's paradise. 'Heaven' is its everyday, slightly more emotional cousin: 'this cake is heaven' is more casual than 'this cake is paradise'. 'Utopia' is more abstract and political — an imagined perfect society rather than a real spot, as in 'his plan for a worker's utopia'. 'Haven' shifts the focus from joy to safety and shelter; a small café can be a haven from the rain, but you would not call it a haven for shoppers. So: choose 'paradise' when the point is that everything is delightful, 'haven' when the point is escape, 'utopia' when the point is a designed ideal, and 'heaven' when you want a casual, warm note.

paradise ↗heaven ↗utopiahaven ↗

Common collocations

Nouns

  • shopper's paradise
  • tropical paradise
  • tax paradise
  • gates of paradise
  • garden of paradise

Phrases

  • a paradise for [hikers/foodies/birdwatchers]
  • lost paradise
  • trouble in paradise

Prepositions

  • in paradise
  • to paradise
  • from paradise
  • out of paradise

Etymology

Old PersianGreekLate LatinOld FrenchEnglish

English 'paradise' came in through Old French 'paradis' from Late Latin 'paradisus', which the early Christian Bible borrowed from Greek 'paradeisos'. The Greek word originally meant a walled garden or royal park, and the Greeks themselves had borrowed it from Old Persian 'pairidaēza' — literally 'walled around' (pairi 'around' + daēza 'wall'). When Greek-speaking Jewish translators of the Hebrew Bible needed a word for the Garden of Eden, they reached for this royal-park word, and from there it later widened to mean heaven and, much later, any earthly place that feels perfect.