nirvana

[ nir-vah-nuh, -van-uh, ner- ]

noun

1. (often initial capital letter) Pali nibbana. Buddhism. freedom from the endless cycle of personal reincarnations, with their consequent suffering, as a result of the extinction of individual passion, hatred, and delusion: attained by the Arhat as his goal but postponed by the Bodhisattva.
2. (often initial capital letter) Hinduism. salvation through the union of Atman with Brahma; moksha.
3. a place or state characterized by freedom from or oblivion to pain, worry, and the external world.

nirvana

/ nɜː-; nɪəˈvɑːnə /

noun

1. Buddhism Hinduism final release from the cycle of reincarnation attained by extinction of all desires and individual existence, culminating (in Buddhism) in absolute blessedness, or (in Hinduism) in absorption into Brahman

nirvana

1. In Buddhism , the highest state of consciousness, in which the soul is freed from all desires and attachments. Nirvana is sometimes inaccurately used as a synonym for heaven or paradise .

Derived Forms

• nirˈvanic, adjective

Other Words From

• nir·vanic adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of nirvana¹

First recorded in 1830–40, nirvana is from the Sanskrit word nirvāṇa

Word History and Origins

Origin of nirvana¹

C19: from Sanskrit: extinction, literally: a blowing out, from nir- out + vāti it blows

Example Sentences

Even a few extra inches of room would get me closer to the sartorial nirvana I was chasing.

From Los Angeles Times

And then another filmmaker with a completely different vision and a different voice, but that loves that flavor, does their version — that’s nirvana.

From Los Angeles Times

“For some movements within Buddhism, the rainbow symbolizes the highest state a human being can reach before entering final enlightenment, or nirvana,” said the visiting Rev. Elizabeth Murphy.

From Los Angeles Times

“This isn’t exactly the high-tech nirvana that the futurists of the 1960s were hoping for,” she said.

From Seattle Times

“I would argue that if you didn’t know anything else about everything that was going on, and somebody told you about the recent economic numbers, we’d be celebrating it as nirvana.”

From New York Times

Related Words

• heaven