Xanadu
Fabled Mongol estate
Xanadu is a place of idyllic beauty, luxury, and contentment—an earthly paradise.
The name comes from the summer palace of Kublai Khan, immortalized in Coleridge's poem "Kubla Khan." It typically describes an opulent retreat or impossibly perfect place: He built himself a Xanadu in the mountains.
Often used with ironic distance for grandiose excess.
- poemMetrical literary composition
- statelyGrand and imposing
- pleasure domeLavish recreation edifice
- sacred riverWaterway with spiritual significance
caverns · measureless · sunless sea · vision · opium · fragment · incense · honeydew
Fictional Himalayan utopia
- AvalonMystical island of lore
- AtlantisMythical sunken island
- CamelotLegendary British royal seat
- El DoradoFabled golden city
Elysium · Arcadia · Kubla Khan · Coleridge · paradise · utopia · idyll · legendary
Lavishly grand and spacious
- lavishAbundant beyond necessity
- sumptuousSplendidly rich and costly
- ornateElaborately decorated
- grandiosePretentiously impressive in scale
magnificent · resplendent · gilded · luxurious · splendid · extravagant · pleasure dome · gardens
Unopened flower of a thorny shrub
Orson Welles · cinema · classic · masterpiece · isolation · grandiosity · hubris · monument
Kubla Khan
- poemMetrical literary composition
- statelyGrand and imposing
- pleasure domeLavish recreation edifice
sacred river · caverns · measureless · sunless sea · vision · opium · fragment · incense · honeydew · damsel
Shangri-La
Fictional Himalayan utopia
El Dorado · Elysium · Arcadia · Kubla Khan · Coleridge · paradise · utopia · idyll · legendary · fabled
palatial
Lavishly grand and spacious
grandiose · magnificent · resplendent · gilded · luxurious · splendid · extravagant · pleasure dome · gardens · fountains
Rosebud
Unopened flower of a thorny shrub
Orson Welles · film · cinema · classic · masterpiece · isolation · grandiosity · hubris · monument · collection
oriental
Of the East
- mysteriousBeyond easy comprehension
- alluringPowerfully appealing
- distantFar away or aloof
faraway · foreign · luxuriant · bazaar · spices · silk · caravan · enchanting · romantic · fantastical
- Fictional Addresses221B Baker Street, Bag End, Wayne Manor, Hogwarts, Downton Abbey
- imaginary worldsdreamland, fairyland, wonderland, fantasy realm, dream world
- Mythical PlacesAtlantis, Avalon, El Dorado, Shangri-La, Utopia
- Paradisesparadise, Eden, Garden of Eden, utopia, Shangri-La
- ColeridgeKubla Khan, ancient mariner, pleasure dome, albatross, mariner
- Fantasy RealmsNarnia, Middle-earth, Hogwarts, Oz, Neverland
Xanadureality
What actually exists
everyday life · suburbia · mundanity · ordinary world · Main Street