heavenheav‧en /ˈhevən/ ●●● S3 W3 noun 
He believed that he and his wife would one day be together again in heaven.2enjoyable situation [uncountable] informal an extremely enjoyable situation or place SYN paradise: Sitting by the pool with a good book is my idea of heaven.in heaven Put a baseball in his hand and he’s in heaven. Living on the farm for Jim was heaven on earth.a match/marriage made in heaven (=a happy and successful marriage)SPOKEN PHRASES3for heaven’s sake a)used to show that you are annoyed or angry: Oh, for heaven’s sake, Mark, do you have to make everything into a joke? b)used to emphasize a question, request, order, or opinion: For heaven’s sake, let’s all get to sleep.4heaven (only) knows a)used to emphasize that you do not know something: He won’t tell me what he thinks. Heaven knows why. b)used to emphasize what you are saying: Sue can’t take a holiday yet, though heaven knows she needs a rest.5heaven help somebody a)used to express sympathy for someone who is in a dangerous or difficult situation: ‘The two boys are going to the dentist on Thursday.’ ‘Heaven help the dentist.’ b)used to say that you will be very angry with someone if they do something: Heaven help him if he ever comes back here again!6heaven forbid used to say that you very much hope something will not happen: What would you do financially if, heaven forbid, your husband died?7what/how/why etc in heaven’s name used when asking a surprised and angry question: Where in heaven’s name have you been?8the heavens literary the sky: He looked up towards the heavens. Just then, the heavens opened (=it started to rain heavily).9move heaven and earth to try very hard to achieve something: I would move heaven and earth to help her. → be in seventh heaven at seventh1(2), → thank heaven(s) at thank(2)
WORD ORIGINheaven
Origin:
Old English heofonEXAMPLES FROM OTHER DICTIONARIES
- The new kitchen is heaven compared to the old one.
- I used to think I had died and gone to rank-and-file heaven.
- It's the most extraordinary place - both heaven and hell simultaneously.
- Well the sun is blazing down from the clear blue heavens.
Longman Language Activatorwhat you say when you hope something does not happen
spoken say this when you hope that what has just been mentioned will not happen or is not true: · "Do you think she's lost?" "I hope not!"· "I promise I won't do it again." "I certainly hope not," replied her mother.
spoken use this to say very strongly that you hope something does not happen or has not happened: · ''She said she was going to find out where you live and come and visit you.'' ''Heaven forbid!''
ways of saying that no one knows something · Maybe the world will end tomorrow. Who can say?· He might come back and say he still loves me, who knows? Who cares?who knows/who can say what/where/why etc · Who knows whether Mimi ever made it to Paris.
spoken say this when you mean that it is impossible to know something: · "Where'd she go?" "God knows."God knows/heaven knows what/who/why etc: · I've just missed my train, so God knows what time I'll get home now.· Heaven knows why she feels she can't trust her own parents.
spoken say this when neither you, nor anyone else knows the answer to a question or the truth about something, and any answer could be correct: · How he'd lived through it all is anybody's guess.it's anybody's guess who/what/why etc: · It's anybody's guess who will come out on top when the winners are announced at the Grammy Awards this year.
spoken say this when it is impossible to know what will happen, especially when you are worried that something bad might happen: there's no telling/knowing who/what/why etc: · "He's a desperate man. There's no telling what he'll do next," said Holmes.· There was no knowing when the flood waters might recede with so much rain in the forecast.
spoken say this when someone asks you a question and you do not know the answer, so that they are just as likely to guess the right answer as you are: · "Who do you think will win the World Cup?" "Your guess is as good as mine."
WORD SETSacolyte, nounafterlife, nounagnostic, nounangel, nounanimism, nounanoint, verbapostasy, nounapostate, nounarchangel, nounbelieve, verbbeliever, nounbell-ringer, nounbless, verbblessed, adjectiveblessing, nouncelebrant, nounChristian Science, nouncircumcise, verbcircumcision, nouncommunion, nounconfession, nounconvent, nounconversion, nounconvert, nouncoreligionist, nouncowl, nouncredo, nouncreed, nouncult, noundaemon, nounDecalogue, noundefrock, verbdeism, noundenomination, noundenominational, adjectivedevotee, noundevotion, noundevotional, adjectivedevout, adjectivedivine, adjectivedivinity, noundruid, nounfaith, nounfast day, nounfeast, nounfervour, nounfiesta, nounfollow, verbfrankincense, noungentile, noungod, noungoddess, noungrace, nounhabit, nounhair shirt, nounhallelujah, interjectionhallowed, adjectivehalo, nounheathen, adjectiveheathen, nounheaven, nounheavenly, adjectivehell, nounheresy, nounheretic, nounhermit, nounhermitage, nounheterodox, adjectivehigh priest, nounidol, nounidolatry, nounincarnation, nounincense, nouninfidel, nounintercession, nouninvocation, nouninvoke, verbirreligious, adjective-ism, suffixlayman, nounlaywoman, nounlibation, nounliturgical, adjectiveliturgy, nounmartyr, nounmartyr, verbmeditate, verbmeditation, nounmission, nounmonastery, nounmonastic, adjectivemonk, nounmonotheism, nounMoonie, nounMormon, nounMosaic, adjectivemystery play, nounmystic, nounmystical, adjectivemysticism, nounneophyte, nounnovice, nounnovitiate, nounnuminous, adjectivenun, nounnunnery, nounoblation, nounobservance, nounoffering, nounOlympian, adjectiveordain, verborder, nounorthodox, adjectiveotherworldly, adjectivepagan, adjectivepagan, nounpantheism, nounpantheon, nounParsee, nounpilgrim, nounpilgrimage, nounpious, adjectivepluralism, nounpolytheism, nounpractise, verbpray, verbprayer, nounprayer wheel, nounpreach, verbpreacher, nounpriest, nounpriestess, nounpriesthood, nounpriestly, adjectiveprophet, nounprophetess, nounpurify, verbRasta, nounRastafarian, nounRastaman, nounRE, nounrecant, verbreincarnation, nounreligious, adjectivereligiously, adverbreliquary, nounrepent, verbretreat, nounrevelation, nounrevivalism, nounrite, nounritual, nounsacred, adjectivesacrifice, nounsacrifice, verbsacrificial, adjectivesanctify, verbsanctity, nounsanctuary, nounsanctum, nounsatanism, nounscripture, nounsect, nounsectarian, adjectiveservice, nounshaman, nounShinto, nounshrine, nounsin, nounsin, verbsinful, adjectivesinner, nounsoul, nounspirit, nounspiritual, adjectivespiritualism, nounspirituality, nounSr, sun god, nounsuppliant, nounsupplicant, nounsupplication, nounSupreme Being, nounTao, nounTaoism, nountemple, nountenet, nounthanksgiving, nountheism, nountheo-, prefixtheocracy, nountheologian, nountheological college, nountheology, nountonsure, nountranscendental, adjectivetranscendental meditation, nountransmigration, noununbelief, noununbeliever, nounungodly, adjectiveunholy, adjectiveunorthodox, adjectivevisionary, nounvoodoo, nounvotary, nounworship, verbworship, noun
COLLOCATIONS FROM THE ENTRY Living on the farm for Jim was heaven on earth. Heaven help him if he ever comes back here again! Just then, the heavens opened (=it started to rain heavily).COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES The toilets stank to high heaven (=stank very much).
Living on the farm for Jim was heaven on earth. (=a happy and successful marriage)
Heaven help him if he ever comes back here again! Just then, the heavens opened (=it started to rain heavily). The toilets stank to high heaven (=stank very much). (=used for emphasis when you are surprised, angry etc) What on earth’s going on?
COLLOCATIONS FROM THE CORPUSADJECTIVE What on earth’s going on?· Oh, dear heavens, had Naylor, by seeing she was hurt, seen too that she cared deeply for him?
· It's nothing at all! Good heavens, is that the time?· No, Ken is not my lover, good heavens, he'd be shocked!· Have they - good heavens - got their sums wrong?· That should keep him away from Olinda Bray! Good heavens!· Rugs! Good heavens, man, do I pay you to stand about like a tailor's dummy?
· Ju-i sceptre Used by the highest deity in heaven, its head is formed into the shape of a cloud.· It was high - heaven only knew how he had got up there!· It stank to high heaven of salt-fish and shit, the aforementioned by far the more offensive.
NOUN· Or they could have sold that controlling interest to some one else - heaven help us!· Oh, heaven help her - Fabia knew then that she was in deep, deep trouble!
VERB· Three pairs of dark legs, high-top sneakers at their bottoms, ascend toward heaven.· In later times, he ascended to heaven to be crowned with stars.· As well as a tree, Hathor was, like Lilith, the ladder on which the righteous could ascend to heaven.
· A turbulent black cloud like a rumpled sheet seemed to descend from heaven.
· It is encapsulated in Galileo's quip that the Bible teaches how to go to heaven, not how the heavens go.· If I have the baby I go to heaven.· The doctrine of original sin and baptismal regeneration meant that an unbaptised infant could not go to heaven.· The fundamentalists are saying, work hard, be born again, you can go to heaven.· About whether he would go to heaven or hell.· Areeeee, if I took money from you I would not go to heaven.· Actually in the flesh, the way she went up to heaven.· I thought I'd died and gone to heaven!
· We've all experienced it and most of us would move heaven and earth to avoid it.· Bishop Auckland have also moved heaven and earth to improve their standing.· If you knew what I was doing you'd have moved heaven and earth to stop me.· So together we moved heaven and earth to ensure, in a difficult year, that the necessary money was made available.
· Mrs. Butler brought in the tea, and raised her eyes to heaven when she saw Jenny weeping again.· Had he jumped in, or had he been raised up to heaven?· Her body was raised to heaven upon her death, where it was reunited with her soul.
· Off in the distance you see enormous mountains reaching for the heavens with their towering peaks.
· Yeah right, a little virgin, a device sent by heaven to cleanse your soul.
· She gasped at the vividness of her imagination. Thank heaven that in the morning everything would be back to normal.· Some one you thanked heaven for sending back?· And then, thank heaven, people will have somewhere decent to bring up their children.· You got this much snow, you thanked heaven for your warm home and waited for the thing to blow over.· Dad's Army told us that in Britain, thank heaven, nothing worked like clockwork.· She had her thoughts under control again, thank heavens.
PHRASES FROM THE ENTRY► what/how/why etc in heaven’s namePHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES► God is in his heaven, all’s right with the world
1place of god (also Heaven) [singular] the place where God is believed to live and where good people are believed to go when they diein heaven- Heaven forbid you should have an accident!
- And heaven forbid that you should be served by some one in a chain coffee house with a regional accent.
- Or, heaven forbid, ridicule him?
- As a rule, all sacrifices were carried out as close to the heavens as possible.
- He was walking home from the office in a misting rain when the heavens erupted in a downpour.
- John Flamsteed alone personally donated some forty man-years to the monumental effort of mapping the heavens.
- Off in the distance you see enormous mountains reaching for the heavens with their towering peaks.
- Smoke from the burned rajathuks still coiled into the heavens.
- So there are good guys and bad guys in the heavens and there are sovereignties among both.
- This progress bolstered the dream that the heavens would one day reveal longitude.
- What on earth, or in the heavens, went on in that febrile mind?
- Bishop Auckland have also moved heaven and earth to improve their standing.
- If you knew what I was doing you'd have moved heaven and earth to stop me.
- So together we moved heaven and earth to ensure, in a difficult year, that the necessary money was made available.
- We've all experienced it and most of us would move heaven and earth to avoid it.
- For heaven's sake, don't tell him my age!
- Where was the kid's mother, for heaven's sake?
- And heavens knows, once launched it's all too hard to turn back and look again for the missed trace.
- He starts a conversation and ends up heaven knows where.
- If it isn't, heaven knows who will ride to the rescue of the firm.
- Kenyon must see it through or heaven knows what will become of the station.
- People live together - Peter and Miranda are Bohemian enough, heaven knows.
- People wave from the bank and shout our names; heaven knows who they are!
- What effect it will have on the result, heaven only knows.
- Heaven help us if it snows again.
- Good grief! I forgot my keys again.
- Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
- Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness, sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
- Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
- So when our Lord spoke about the Kingdom of Heaven being at hand, he was referring to its being qualitatively present.
- They believe the kingdom of Heaven is to do with the whole person.
- They still believe that the kingdom of Heaven is something present in the lives of men and women.
- This world, this kingdom of the Devil, will be destroyed and the kingdom of heaven shall come.
- The activities of illegal immigrant vessels were as manna from heaven to the media who naturally gave them much publicity.
- The hijab is manna from heaven for politicians facing crises.
- The letters are manna from heaven, filling my time and recharging my batteries.
- As his relations carried him off to be buried, the sky suddenly darkened and the heavens opened.
- He'd come out without his anorak and if the heavens opened he'd get soaked.
- It went from bad to worse as the heavens opened and turned the circuit into one huge puddle.
- Just as we set off, would you believe it, the heavens opened.
- Unfortunately, the Heavens opened on finals day, ending the good weather and causing disruptions.
- We got Darren a puppy for Christmas, and he was in seventh heaven.
- But Leonora was in seventh heaven.
- He was in seventh heaven, so excited.
- My good friends of masher persuasion are in seventh heaven when they have the opportunity of admiring eight pretty faces.
- Thank God the semester's almost over!
- A spare room with no room mate was available, thank goodness, at the Loch Leven Hotel.
- All I can say in these hectic times is thank goodness for Marks & Spencer's prepared meals.
- And the politicians, thank goodness, have only so much money with which to rip each other to shreds.
- He was leaving, thank goodness!
- There was no sign of him now, thank goodness.
He believed that he and his wife would one day be together again in heaven.2enjoyable situation [uncountable] informal an extremely enjoyable situation or place SYN paradise: Sitting by the pool with a good book is my idea of heaven.in heaven Put a baseball in his hand and he’s in heaven. Living on the farm for Jim was heaven on earth.a match/marriage made in heaven (=a happy and successful marriage)SPOKEN PHRASES3for heaven’s sake a)used to show that you are annoyed or angry: Oh, for heaven’s sake, Mark, do you have to make everything into a joke? b)used to emphasize a question, request, order, or opinion: For heaven’s sake, let’s all get to sleep.4heaven (only) knows a)used to emphasize that you do not know something: He won’t tell me what he thinks. Heaven knows why. b)used to emphasize what you are saying: Sue can’t take a holiday yet, though heaven knows she needs a rest.5heaven help somebody a)used to express sympathy for someone who is in a dangerous or difficult situation: ‘The two boys are going to the dentist on Thursday.’ ‘Heaven help the dentist.’ b)used to say that you will be very angry with someone if they do something: Heaven help him if he ever comes back here again!6heaven forbid used to say that you very much hope something will not happen: What would you do financially if, heaven forbid, your husband died?7what/how/why etc in heaven’s name used when asking a surprised and angry question: Where in heaven’s name have you been?8the heavens literary the sky: He looked up towards the heavens. Just then, the heavens opened (=it started to rain heavily).9move heaven and earth to try very hard to achieve something: I would move heaven and earth to help her. → be in seventh heaven at seventh1(2), → thank heaven(s) at thank(2)