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Definition of paradise - 10 dictionary results

par⋅a⋅dise

[par-uh-dahys, -dahyz]
–noun
1. heaven, as the final abode of the righteous.
2. an intermediate place for the departed souls of the righteous awaiting resurrection.
3. (often initial capital letter) Eden (def. 1).
4. a place of extreme beauty, delight, or happiness.
5. a state of supreme happiness; bliss.
6. Architecture.
a. parvis.
b. an enclosure beside a church, as an atrium or cloister.
7. (initial capital letter, italics) Italian, Pa⋅ra⋅di⋅so [pah-rah-dee-zaw] . the third and concluding part of Dante's Divine Comedy, depicting heaven, through which he is guided by Beatrice. Compare inferno (def. 3), purgatory (def. 2).

Origin:
bef. 1000; ME, OE paradīs < LL paradīsus < Gk parádeisos park, pleasure-grounds < Iranian; cf. Avestan pairi-daēza enclosure

Par⋅a⋅dise

[par-uh-dahys, -dahyz]
–noun
a town in N California. 22,571.

par⋅vis

[pahr-vis]
–noun
1. a vacant enclosed area in front of a church.
2. a colonnade or portico in front of a church.
Also called paradise.


Origin:
1350–1400; ME < MF; OF pare(v)is < LL paradīsus church courtyard, orig. the one before St. Peter's, Rome. See paradise
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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par·a·dise   (pār'ə-dīs', -dīz')   
n.  
  1. often Paradise The Garden of Eden.

  2. Christianity

    1. The abode of righteous souls after death; heaven.

    2. An intermediate resting place for righteous souls awaiting the Resurrection.

  3. A place of ideal beauty or loveliness.

  4. A state of delight.


[Middle English paradis, from Old French, from Late Latin paradīsus, from Greek paradeisos, garden, enclosed park, paradise, from Avestan pairidaēza-, enclosure, park : pairi-, around; see per1 in Indo-European roots + daēzō, wall; see dheigh- in Indo-European roots.]
par'a·di·si'a·cal (-dĭ-sī'ə-kəl, -zī'-), par'a·di·si'ac (-āk), par'a·di·sa'i·cal (-dĭ-sā'ĭ-kəl, -zā'-), par'a·di·sa'ic (-ĭk), par'a·dis'al (-dī'səl, -zəl) adj., par'a·di·si'a·cal·ly, par'a·di·sa'i·cal·ly, par'a·dis'al·ly adv.
Word History: The history of paradise is an extreme example of amelioration, the process by which a word comes to refer to something better than what it used to refer to. The old Iranian language Avestan had a noun pairidaēza-, "a wall enclosing a garden or orchard," which is composed of pairi-, "around," and daēza- "wall." The adverb and preposition pairi is related to the equivalent Greek form peri, as in perimeter. Daēza- comes from the Indo-European root *dheigh-, "to mold, form, shape." Zoroastrian religion encouraged maintaining arbors, orchards, and gardens, and even the kings of austere Sparta were edified by seeing the Great King of Persia planting and maintaining his own trees in his own garden. Xenophon, a Greek mercenary soldier who spent some time in the Persian army and later wrote histories, recorded the pairidaēza- surrounding the orchard as paradeisos, using it not to refer to the wall itself but to the huge parks that Persian nobles loved to build and hunt in. This Greek word was used in the Septuagint translation of Genesis to refer to the Garden of Eden, whence Old English eventually borrowed it around 1200.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Cultural Dictionary

paradise

A place or state of pure happiness. Christians have identified paradise both with the Garden of Eden and with heaven.

The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

paradise 
c.1175, "Garden of Eden," from O.Fr. paradis, from L.L. paradisus, from Gk. paradeisos "park, paradise, Garden of Eden," from an Iranian source, cf. Avestan pairidaeza "enclosure, park" (Mod.Pers. and Arabic firdaus "garden, paradise"), compound of pairi- "around" + diz "to make, form (a wall)." The first element is cognate with Gk. peri- "around, about" (see peri-), the second with Skt. digen "firm, solid," originally "kneaded into a compact mass," Gk. teikhos "wall," L. fingere "form, fashion" (cf. fiction), Goth. deigan "to smear," O.E. dag "dough." The Gk. word, originally used for an orchard or hunting park in Persia, was used in Septuagint to mean "Garden of Eden," and in New Testament translations of Luke xxiii.43 to mean "heaven" (a sense attested in Eng. from c.1205). Meaning "place like or compared to Paradise" is from c.1300.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Computing Dictionary

Paradise
Paradise is a subsystem (a set of packages) developed to implement inter-processes, inter-tasks and inter-machine communication for Ada programs under Unix. This subsystem gives the user full access to files, pipes, sockets (both Unix and Internet) and pseudo-devices.
Paradise has been ported to Sun, DEC, Sony MIPS, Verdex compiler, DEC compiler, Alsys/Systeam compiler.
Version 2.0 of the library. E-mail: .
(1992-09-30)

The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing, © 1993-2007 Denis Howe
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Bible Dictionary

Paradise

a Persian word (pardes), properly meaning a "pleasure-ground" or "park" or "king's garden." (See EDEN.) It came in course of time to be used as a name for the world of happiness and rest hereafter (Luke 23:43; 2 Cor. 12:4; Rev. 2:7). For "garden" in Gen. 2:8 the LXX. has "paradise."

Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
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Idioms & Phrases

paradise

see fool's paradise.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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Encyclopedia

paradise

in religion, a place of exceptional happiness and delight. The term paradise is often used as a synonym for the Garden of Eden before the expulsion of Adam and Eve. An earthly paradise is often conceived of as existing in a time when heaven and earth were very close together or actually touching, and when humans and gods had free and happy association. Many religions also include the notion of a fuller life beyond the grave, a land in which there will be an absence of suffering and a complete satisfaction of bodily desires. Accounts of a primordial earthly paradise in the higher religions range from that of a garden of life (Judaism, Christianity, Islam) to that of a golden age of human society at the beginning of each cycle of human existence (Buddhism, Hinduism). A final state of bliss is variously conceived of as a heavenly afterlife (Islam, Christianity), union with the divine (Hinduism), or an eternal condition of peace and changelessness (Buddhism).

Learn more about paradise with a free trial on Britannica.com.

Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
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