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Fool's paradise   /fulz pˈɛrədˌaɪs/   Listen
noun
Fool  n.  
1.
One destitute of reason, or of the common powers of understanding; an idiot; a natural.
2.
A person deficient in intellect; one who acts absurdly, or pursues a course contrary to the dictates of wisdom; one without judgment; a simpleton; a dolt. " Extol not riches, then, the toil of fools." " Experience keeps a dear school, but fools will learn in no other."
3.
(Script.) One who acts contrary to moral and religious wisdom; a wicked person. " The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God."
4.
One who counterfeits folly; a professional jester or buffoon; a retainer formerly kept to make sport, dressed fantastically in motley, with ridiculous accouterments. " Can they think me... their fool or jester?"
April fool, Court fool, etc. See under April, Court, etc.
Fool's cap, a cap or hood to which bells were usually attached, formerly worn by professional jesters.
Fool's errand, an unreasonable, silly, profitless adventure or undertaking.
Fool's gold, iron or copper pyrites, resembling gold in color.
Fool's paradise, a name applied to a limbo (see under Limbo) popularly believed to be the region of vanity and nonsense. Hence, any foolish pleasure or condition of vain self-satistaction.
Fool's parsley (Bot.), an annual umbelliferous plant (Aethusa Cynapium) resembling parsley, but nauseous and poisonous.
To make a fool of, to render ridiculous; to outwit; to shame. (Colloq.)
To play the fool, to act foolishly; to act the buffoon; to act a foolish part. "I have played the fool, and have erred exceedingly."



Paradise  n.  
1.
The garden of Eden, in which Adam and Eve were placed after their creation.
2.
The abode of sanctified souls after death. "To-day shalt thou be with me in paradise." "It sounds to him like her mother's voice, Singing in Paradise."
3.
A place of bliss; a region of supreme felicity or delight; hence, a state of happiness. "The earth Shall be all paradise." "Wrapt in the very paradise of some creative vision."
4.
(Arch.) An open space within a monastery or adjoining a church, as the space within a cloister, the open court before a basilica, etc.
5.
A churchyard or cemetery. (Obs.)
Fool's paradise. See under Fool, and Limbo.
Grains of paradise. (Bot.) See Melequeta pepper, under Pepper.
Paradise bird. (Zool.) Same as Bird of paradise. Among the most beautiful species are the superb (Lophorina superba); the magnificent (Diphyllodes magnifica); and the six-shafted paradise bird (Parotia sefilata). The long-billed paradise birds (Epimachinae) also include some highly ornamental species, as the twelve-wired paradise bird (Seleucides alba), which is black, yellow, and white, with six long breast feathers on each side, ending in long, slender filaments. See Bird of paradise in the Vocabulary.
Paradise fish (Zool.), a beautiful fresh-water Asiatic fish (Macropodus viridiauratus) having very large fins. It is often kept alive as an ornamental fish.
Paradise flycatcher (Zool.), any flycatcher of the genus Terpsiphone, having the middle tail feathers extremely elongated. The adult male of Terpsiphone paradisi is white, with the head glossy dark green, and crested.
Paradise grackle (Zool.), a very beautiful bird of New Guinea, of the genus Astrapia, having dark velvety plumage with brilliant metallic tints.
Paradise nut (Bot.), the sapucaia nut. See Sapucaia nut. (Local, U. S.)
Paradise whidah bird. (Zool.) See Whidah.






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Fool's paradise" Quotes from Famous Books



... speaking in its entirety. And their tact is unerring. We could not stand women speaking the truth. We could not bear it. It would cause infinite misery and bring about most awful disturbances in this rather mediocre, but still idealistic fool's paradise in which each of us lives his own little life—the unit in the great sum of existence. And they know it. They are merciful. This generalisation does not apply exactly to Mrs Fyne's outburst of sincerity in a matter in which neither my affections nor my vanity ...
— Chance - A Tale in Two Parts • Joseph Conrad

... thought of that long before, when I asked her to let me go back to El Tovar with her. But I didn't! I had been in the Canyon long enough to have forgotten what could be made of my adventure by bad minds. I was a cursed fool, moving in a fool's paradise and I must take my ...
— The Enchanted Canyon • Honore Willsie Morrow

... and as such is welcome. When the food had been disposed of, and quids of betel nut and cigarettes were being discussed, the talk naturally turned upon the war, which had so recently closed. Che' Jahya, still living in his Fool's Paradise, and intoxicated by his new honours and importance, was blind to any suspicions of treachery, which, at another time, might have presented themselves to him. He spoke condescendingly to his guests, still aping the manners ...
— In Court and Kampong - Being Tales and Sketches of Native Life in the Malay Peninsula • Hugh Clifford

... needed no voice to tell me that I was the person to alight. I knew my doom. Farewell to all my glorious visions! I could have hurled back into the face of the laughing sun, my hate, and called him deceiver and traitor; for had he not, with other causes conspired to smile me, five minutes ago, into a fool's paradise? ...
— Rattlin the Reefer • Edward Howard

... He might have known that the end must come to such a fool's paradise before very long. For who was he to look up to Sir John Malyoe's granddaughter, he, the supercargo of a merchant ship, and she the ...
— Howard Pyle's Book of Pirates • Howard I. Pyle


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