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Glite Dictionary
Heavenly City

Heavenly City

9.6
A perfect, peaceful place often shown as a beautiful city in religious writing
  • noun
  • Literature
translation icon : Ciudad Celestial
  • In the final chapter, the pilgrims finally entered the Heavenly City after a long and arduous journey.

Examples

  • The author imagined the Heavenly City as a place of perfect harmony and light.

  • Many hymns describe a longing to reach the Heavenly City and dwell in eternal peace.

  • What is the Heavenly City?

  • Many poets describe the Heavenly City in their works.

  • In the final chapter, the pilgrims finally entered the Heavenly City after a long and arduous journey.

  • Many hymns describe a longing to reach the Heavenly City and dwell in eternal peace.

  • The author imagined the Heavenly City as a place of perfect harmony and light.

Synonyms

heaven
vsHeavenly City
237 1.0

A very happy and peaceful state

is a poetic urban image rather than a general emotional state
paradise
vsHeavenly City
77 4.0

A perfect, happy place where good people go after death

is a poetic urban image focusing on built form rather than general afterlife
Elysian Fields
vsHeavenly City
  • Literature
5 9.9

A peaceful, happy place in Greek myth where heroes and good people go after death

is a religious urban image not a mythic field reserved for heroes
City of God
vsHeavenly City
  • Literature
1 8.3

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

is a poetic urban image rather than a theological phrase
Holy City
vsHeavenly City
  • Literature
1 8.8

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

is a poetic urban image not limited to one tradition
Celestial City
vsHeavenly City
  • Archaic
9.9

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

is a poetic urban image used more generally across texts

Surface Forms

Heavenly City singular
Heavenly Cities plural

Morphology

heavenly + city

The phrase is compositionally built from 'heavenly' (pertaining to heaven) + 'city', so its meaning as a city associated with or of Heaven is directly inferable from the constituents. Although literary/poetic, this is a straightforward, cross-linguistically common religious metaphor and therefore accessible to a B1 learner who knows both words.

Etymology

Heavenly City comes from old religious stories that showed heavenly life as a bright, peaceful city with streets and homes. That's why Heavenly City now means 'Heaven' or a 'perfect, peaceful place'.