Paradisical

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Relating to or resembling a place of perfect happiness, beauty, and bliss, especially one free from pain or suffering
2. Characteristic of an idealized realm of supreme joy, tranquility, and aesthetic perfection where all suffering and strife are absent
3. Embodying the qualities of an idyllic, heavenly state marked by flawless beauty, contentment, and freedom from worldly troubles

Etymology: "Paradisical" is an alternative spelling of "paradisiacal," and the two are built the same way. Both come from the Latin "paradisiacus," which was itself borrowed from Greek "paradeisos," a word that originally meant an enclosed park or orchard, often one belonging to a Persian ruler. The Greek word was later adopted in the Septuagint and other early Christian writing to describe the Garden of Eden, and that religious sense is what the English adjective carries. The English form is a learned borrowing: Latin "paradisiacus" was taken over into English, and the suffix "-al" was added on top, giving an adjective meaning relating to or resembling paradise. The "-ical" spelling is simply a variant of the same ending, so the word means "like perfect heaven" in the same way as its more common twin.

Synonyms: heavenly, blissful, idyllic, utopian, perfect

Antonyms: hellish, dismal, miserable, unpleasant, chaotic