heaven
Americannoun
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heavens
plural
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the abode of God, the angels, and the spirits of the righteous after death; the place or state of existence of the blessed after the mortal life.
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(initial capital letter) Often Heavens the celestial powers; God.
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a metonym for God.
May heaven help us!
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(used with a singular verb) heavens, a wooden roof or canopy over the outer stage of an Elizabethan theater.
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Usually heavens. the sky, firmament, or expanse of space surrounding the earth.
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a place or state of supreme happiness.
She made his life a heaven on earth.
interjection
idioms
noun
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(sometimes capital) Christianity
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the abode of God and the angels
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a place or state of communion with God after death Compare hell
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(usually plural) the sky, firmament or space surrounding the earth
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(in any of various mythologies) a place, such as Elysium or Valhalla, to which those who have died in the gods' favour are brought to dwell in happiness
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a place or state of joy and happiness
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God or the gods, used in exclamatory phrases of surprise, exasperation, etc
for heaven's sake
heavens above
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ecstatically happy
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to do everything possible (to achieve something)
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of heaven
First recorded before 900; Middle English heven, Old English heofon; cognate with Middle Low German heven; akin to Old Norse himinn, Gothic himins, German Himmel
Explanation
Heaven is a place that seems absolutely perfect in every way. You can think of it as the lofty heavens up above, or as a place of everlasting bliss. The places you think of as heaven could also be called "paradise" or "Eden." All of these words are based on a religious idea of heaven as a perfect, blissful existence that's granted to good people after they die. This spiritual heaven is generally depicted as the place where God lives, and is commonly described as being high in the sky. In fact, the original meaning of the Old English heaven, heofon, was "sky."
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
That’s not your total return because it doesn’t include appreciation — or, heaven forbid, depreciation — of your home.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 29, 2026
The Telegraph's Anita Singh, external also awarded five stars, remarking that "Bake Off and Nigella are a match made in heaven".
From BBC ● Sep. 23, 2026
Another way of saying this is that they’ve found a new way to dress up “Survivor,” the original — and, heaven help us, still running — task-based themed elimination show.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 23, 2026
From then on, Swedenborg believed he was able to travel to heaven and hell.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 11, 2026
I ask to please be taken up to heaven with my mum.
From "Blood on the River" by Elisa Carbone
Harold’s knights pivot from acclaiming him with open palms and loyal smiles to pointing fearfully at the heavens.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 26, 2026
José Rivera’s “Marisol” came out around the same time as Tony Kushner’s “Angels in America,” and both plays, vibrating with millennial anxieties, carry the earthly battle for human survival up to the heavens.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 17, 2026
In “Travelin’ Thru,” Parton raises her voice to the heavens and declares, “When I’m born again, you’re gonna see a change in me.”
From Salon ● Aug. 28, 2026
"If they are a bit more generous and say that 'Zhu Rongji did accomplish some practical things', I will thank the heavens."
From Barron's ● Aug. 12, 2026
An hypothesis was the theoretical model which generated predictions of the future locations of the planets in the heavens.
From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
