heaven
part of speech
noun (heaven, heavens; also Heaven)
meaning for a pupil
1) In many religions, the place where God or gods live and where good people are believed to go after they die. tree →
2) A very happy or pleasant place or state («this cake is heaven!»). tree →
3) (old or poetic) «The heavens»: the sky. tree →
4) Used in exclamations: «Good heavens!», «Heavens!», «For heaven's sake!», «Thank heavens!», «Heaven knows». tree →
sense in the lessons
In stories, religious education and poems; in everyday speech as a mild exclamation of surprise or annoyance and to say something is lovely. A euphemism for dying: «gone to heaven». Phrases: «in heaven», «heaven on earth», «in seventh heaven» (very happy), «heaven forbid».
examples
- Some people believe Grandpa is in heaven now. tree →
- (euphemism) «Our cat has gone to heaven,» Mum said gently. tree →
- This hot chocolate is heaven! tree →
- Good heavens, look at all this mess! tree →
- The heavens opened and it poured with rain. tree →
- For heaven's sake, stop shouting! tree →
- She was in seventh heaven when she got a puppy. tree →
- Heaven helps those who help themselves. tree →
note
Opposite: hell. Adjective «heavenly» (lovely, or of the sky). «Heavens!» is polite, not swearing. People of different religions have different beliefs about heaven — be respectful.
In the corpora
- He thinks he is «a heaven-born driver» whom nobody can teach.
- "Gone to doggy heaven" is a gentle, half-joking way to tell a child the dog died.
- "Heaven forbid" means I really hope that does not happen.
- "Heaven knows" means God knows, that is, nobody knows.
- "For heaven's sake" is a polite way of saying "for God's sake", said in annoyance.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «heaven» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.