Adjacent Words

nirvana definitions

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WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: (Hinduism and Buddhism) the beatitude that transcends the cycle of reincarnation; characterized by the extinction of desire and suffering and individual consciousness [syn: nirvana, enlightenment]
2: any place of complete bliss and delight and peace [syn: Eden, paradise, nirvana, heaven, promised land, Shangri-la]

Merriam Webster's

noun Usage: often capitalized Etymology: Sanskrit nirv??a, literally, act of extinguishing, from nis- out + v?ti it blows — more at wind Date: 1801 1. the final beatitude that transcends suffering, karma, and samsara and is sought especially in Buddhism through the extinction of desire and individual consciousness 2. a. a place or state of oblivion to care, pain, or external reality; also bliss, heaven b. a goal hoped for but apparently unattainable ; dream • nirvanic adjective

Britannica Concise

(Sanskrit: "Extinction") In Indian religious thought, the transcendent state of freedom achieved by the extinction of desire and of individual consciousness. Nirvana is the supreme goal of the disciplines of meditation, particularly in Buddhism. Release from desire (and consequent suffering) and the continuous round of rebirths constitutes enlightenment, or the experience of nirvana. Theravada Buddhism conceives of nirvana as tranquillity and peace; Mahayana Buddhism equates it with sunyata (emptiness), dharma-kaya (the essence of the Buddha), and dharma-datu (ultimate reality).

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. (in Buddhism) perfect bliss and release from karma, attained by the extinction of individuality. Etymology: Skr. nirvana f. nirva be extinguished f. nis out + va- to blow

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Nirvana Nir*va"na, n. [Skr. nirv[=a][.n]a.] In the Buddhist system of religion, the final emancipation of the soul from transmigration, and consequently a beatific enfrachisement from the evils of wordly existence, as by annihilation or absorption into the divine. See Buddhism.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

1. In the Hindu and Buddhist religions, Nirvana is the highest spiritual state that can possibly be achieved. Entering the realm of Nirvana is only possible for those who have become pure. 2. People sometimes refer to a state of complete happiness and peace as nirvana. Many businessmen think that a world where relative prices never varied would be nirvana. = paradise

Moby Thesaurus

Buddha-field, Canaan, Civitas Dei, KO, Lethe, New Jerusalem, Zion, absentmindedness, anorexia, anorexia nervosa, ataraxia, ataraxy, blackout, blank mind, blankmindedness, blankness, bliss, calm of mind, calmness, catalepsy, catatonia, catatony, coma, composure, contemplation, decay of memory, desirelessness, devachan, devaloka, elysium, emptiness of mind, empty-headedness, empyrean, faint, fallow mind, fatuity, foolishness, forgetfulness, forgetting, forgiveness, grayout, happy hunting ground, hazy recollection, heedlessness, imperturbability, inanity, inappetence, kamaloka, kamavachara, kayo, knockout, lack of appetite, lipothymia, lipothymy, lovelessness, lucid stillness, marmoreal repose, mental blankness, nepenthe, nirvana principle, nothingness, obliteration, oblivion, obliviousness, paradise, passionlessness, passivity, peace, peacefulness, placidity, placidness, quiescence, quiescency, quiet, quietism, quietness, quietude, repose, rest, restfulness, satori, semiconsciousness, senselessness, serenity, short memory, silence, silken repose, sleep, slumber, stillness, stupor, swoon, syncope, tabula rasa, thoughtfreeness, thoughtlessness, tranquillity, unambitiousness, unconsciousness, undesirousness, uneagerness, unintelligence, unmindfulness, vacancy, vacuity, waters of oblivion, wise passiveness