fool's paradise
1
8.1
- noun
- /fuːlz ˈpærəˌdaɪs/
- Informal
:
paraíso del tonto
- His belief that he would never get caught was just a fool's paradise that eventually crumbled.
Examples
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Many workers were content in their fool's paradise, unaware of the company's financial troubles.
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Like I have said before, I am not living in a fool's paradise.
Blog text (33) -
You're living in a fool's paradise, man.
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I've been living in a fool's paradise.
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Irma, we want to get out of this fool's paradise!
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They're living in a fool's paradise.
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I'm afraid he's living in a fool's paradise.
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Academics are living in a fool's paradise if they think they can hold on to their ivory tower, fashioned for another era, another world.
Academic text (2005) -
Anyone looking ahead to the future who believes Medicare and Medicaid funding will emerge unscathed is living in a fool's paradise.
Blog text (16) -
Living in a fool's paradise can lead to devastating consequences when reality finally sets in.
Synonyms
199
6.7
A strong false belief that someone still has even when it is not true
2
6.3
A way of thinking that ignores real problems and expects impossible results
1
9.9
An imaginary place where people are out of touch with reality because they are too optimistic
Unrealistic hope despite clear signs it will not happen
Antonyms
How Realistic
38
4.5
209
2.8
- Informal
1
5.0
- Informal
1
8.1
199
6.7
Surface Forms
Morphology
fool's + paradise
The compound pairs 'fool' (a naive or mistaken person) with 'paradise' (a state of bliss), so a B1 learner who knows both words could infer a kind of happiness associated with a fool. However, the nuance that this happiness is illusory or based on false beliefs and likely to end badly is not fully predictable from the parts and requires idiomatic knowledge, making the expression only partially transparent.
Etymology
The idiom fool's paradise may come from the image of a fool sitting in a perfect paradise that is only a dream. That's why the phrase now means being 'happy' because of 'false hopes' or 'wrong beliefs'.