Shangri-La
/ˌʃæŋɡɹɪˈlɑː/ noun, proper noun
Forms Shangri-Las
- noun A place or land of complete bliss, delight, and peace, especially one seen as an escape from ordinary life; a paradise.
- noun An opulent building or resort that provides entertainment or luxurious living.
- proper noun (US politics) Former name of Camp David.
Synonyms
Xanadu paradise utopia heaven pleasure palace pleasuredome Eden nirvana promised land
Etymology
From a fictional place described in the 1933 novel Lost Horizon by British author James Hilton (1900–1954): see the quotation below. A Tibetan origin has been suggested, from ཞང (zhang, “name of a district of Ü-Tsang”) + རི (ri, “mountain”) + ལ (la, “pass”), therefore meaning "Mountain Pass of Zhang District".
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 — from the Wiktionary entry “Shangri-La”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details