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heaven

heaven

∞ 1.1
A place many religions believe God lives and good people go after death
  • noun
  • /ˈhɛvən/
: cielo
  • At death, souls can ascend to heaven, but shamans can do this in life.
  • go to heaven
  • heaven and hell
  • heaven and earth

Good people don't go to heaven, only Christians.

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Examples

  • Late in the game, the poet-narrator still hasn't made it home, to heaven, or back to Eden.

    Academic text (2008)
  • The pilgrim church is itself a liminal reality, occupying the border between heaven and earth.

    Academic text (2008)
  • No one knows who is going to heaven but the Father.

  • But I know that heaven is far greater than this life.

  • And he said the Kingdom of heaven then is heaven.

  • Well, sometimes I think the Lord gave us a taste of heaven here on Earth.

    Fiction book (1990)
  • That's why Jesus said the Kingdom of heaven is within.

  • Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there.

    Academic text (2017)
  • Having done that, he ascended once again to heaven as he had done before.

    Fiction book (1990)
  • Many people believe that good souls go to heaven after they die.

Synonyms

paradise
vsheaven
26 4.0

A perfect, happy place where good people go after death

is the belief in a divine dwelling and reward after death
nirvana
vsheaven
20 7.9

A very peaceful happy state with no worry or pain

is a religious place where good people go after death, not a mental state
City of God
vsheaven
  • Literature
4 8.3

A holy place where people believe God and the blessed live after death

is the general religious idea of God's home and afterlife reward
Holy City
vsheaven
  • Literature
1 8.8

A sacred, perfect place like Heaven where God lives, often in Christian writing

is the broader doctrine of a divine dwelling and the blessed after death
Heavenly City
vsheaven
  • Literature
1 9.6

A perfect, peaceful place often shown as a beautiful city in religious writing

is the core belief about a divine home and posthumous reward
Celestial City
vsheaven
  • Archaic
1 9.9

A beautiful city in Heaven that good people go to after they die

is the wider religious concept of a divine home for the good after death

Antonyms

906 4.4

A religious idea of a place after death where people who do wrong suffer forever

Idioms

Heaven forbid
  • Informal
14 7.7

I hope nothing bad happens

to high heaven
  • Informal
9 7.2

Extremely, often in a loud or very strong way

8 4.2

Do everything you can to achieve something important

5 8.1

Have a very strong bad smell or seem very wrong

4 7.5

A sudden helpful gift when you need it most

2 9.9

To say you do not want something bad to happen

Compounds

seventh heaven
  • Informal
4 3.7

A feeling of great happiness and joy

4 6.8

Very lucky and coming at just the right time

vault of heaven
  • Literature
1 9.9

The sky that looks like a big bowl holding the sun, moon, and stars

Mandate of Heaven
  • Literature
1 9.9

A traditional Chinese idea that Heaven gives emperors the right to rule while they govern well

A fast growing tree from China that often grows in cities and spreads quickly

lemon heaven
  • Informal
4.9

A very tasty lemon dessert for people who love lemons

How High

empyrean
  • Archaic
1 9.9
heaven
∞ 1.1
firmament
  • Archaic
12 9.9
sky
∞ 1.0

Surface Forms

heaven singular
heavens plural

Etymology

Heaven originally meant the open 'sky' or a very 'high' place where people imagined the gods lived. That's why in many religions heaven became the name for the home of God and the place good people go after death. A helpful way to remember it is to think of the word heave, which means 'to lift up', because heaven was seen as 'up' above the earth.