heavenly

B1 Topic:Describing Qualities

US /ˈhɛvənli/ UK /ˈhɛvənli/ See IPA manual

Freq #6628

Meanings

1

adj
Extremely pleasant, beautiful, or enjoyable.

This chocolate cake tastes absolutely heavenly.
2

adj
Relating to heaven or to God.

She prayed to her heavenly Father for guidance.
3

adj
Relating to the sky, stars, and planets.

The moon and other heavenly bodies are controlled by gravity.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 adj · extremely pleasant,... divine

2 adj · relating to heaven or to god. celestial divine

3 adj · relating to the sky, stars,... celestial

Word family

Derived forms heavenlilyheavenlinessheavenly-mindedunheavenly

Appears in

Phrases (1)

See all

heavenly body
a natural object in space, such as a star, planet, or moon

Adjective + noun

Etymology

From Middle English hevenely, hevenly, from Old English heofonlīċ (“heavenly, celestial, chaste”), equivalent to heaven + -ly. Cognate with Old Saxon himillīk (“heavenly”), Middle Dutch himellec, hemellijc (“heavenly”), Middle High German himmellich (“heavenly”).

hevenely Middle English heofonlīċ Old English

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Describing Qualities

External links

# heavenly

**Type:** Word
**Level:** B1
**Part of speech:** adj
**IPA (US):** /ˈhɛvənli/
**IPA (UK):** /ˈhɛvənli/
**Frequency rank:** 6628

## Meanings
1. Extremely pleasant, beautiful, or enjoyable.
2. Relating to heaven or to God.
3. Relating to the sky, stars, and planets.

## Examples
- This chocolate cake tastes absolutely heavenly.
- She prayed to her heavenly Father for guidance.
- The moon and other heavenly bodies are controlled by gravity.

## Derived Forms
- heavenlily
- heavenliness
- heavenly-minded
- unheavenly

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: hevenely
- Root: heofonlīċ

## Etymology
From Middle English hevenely, hevenly, from Old English heofonlīċ (“heavenly, celestial, chaste”), equivalent to heaven + -ly. Cognate with Old Saxon himillīk (“heavenly”), Middle Dutch himellec, hemellijc (“heavenly”), Middle High German himmellich (“heavenly”).

## AI Etymology
Heavenly comes from Middle English hevenely, hevenly, from Old English heofonlīċ (“heavenly, celestial, chaste”), equivalent to heaven + -ly. Cognate with Old Saxon himillīk (“heavenly”), Middle Dutch himellec, hemellijc (“heavenly”), Middle High German himmellich (“heavenly”). The analysis is mainly morphological: the modern adjectival form is built from the named base and affix. In current use, the main senses are “Extremely pleasant, beautiful, or enjoyable” and “Relating to heaven or to God”.

## Topics
- Describing Qualities

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