HEAVEN

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does Heaven mean? 

• HEAVEN (noun)
  The noun HEAVEN has 2 senses:

1. any place of complete bliss and delight and peace

2. the abode of God and the angels

  Familiarity information: HEAVEN used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• HEAVEN (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Any place of complete bliss and delight and peace

Classified under:

Nouns denoting spatial position

Synonyms:

Eden; heaven; nirvana; paradise; promised land; Shangri-la

Hypernyms ("heaven" is a kind of...):

part; region (the extended spatial location of something)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The abode of God and the angels

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Hypernyms ("Heaven" is a kind of...):

fictitious place; imaginary place; mythical place (a place that exists only in imagination; a place said to exist in fictional or religious writings)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "Heaven"):

Abraham's bosom; bosom of Abraham (the place where the just enjoy the peace of heaven after death)

Celestial City; City of God; Heavenly City; Holy City (phrases used to refer to Heaven)

Elysian Fields; Elysium ((Greek mythology) the abode of the blessed after death)

Eden; Garden of Eden (a beautiful garden where Adam and Eve were placed at the Creation; when they disobeyed and ate the forbidden fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil they were driven from their paradise (the fall of man))

Paradise ((Christianity) the abode of righteous souls after death)

Promised Land (the goal towards which Christians strive)

Valhalla; Walhalla ((Norse mythology) the hall in which the souls of heros slain in battle were received by Odin)

Antonym:

Hell ((Christianity) the abode of Satan and the forces of evil; where sinners suffer eternal punishment)

Derivation:

heavenly (relating to or inhabiting a divine heaven)

 Context examples 

I wish to heavens that you would, Mr. Holmes.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

For Heaven’s sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary mystery!

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

It was low in the heavens, and I calculated that in less than an hour it would lie just above the topmost branches of the old oak.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

But I said, modestly—Good Heaven, how it all comes back to me this long time afterwards—!

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

So White Fang knew nothing of the heaven a man's hand might contain for him.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

Thank Heaven Beth continues so comfortable.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

To us for ever are the gates of heaven shut; for who shall open them to us again?

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

Then he surveyed the heavens and ran his eye along the white sky-line to the south.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

And when she read aloud to him her favorite passages, he ascended to the topmost heaven of delight.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

“By heaven, Sir Nigel is down!” cried the squire.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)