pearly gates
Iridescent ornamental barrier
The pearly gates are the entrance to heaven in Christian imagery, traditionally depicted as gates made of pearl guarded by Saint Peter.
The phrase appears in casual speech as a stand-in for the afterlife or death itself: When I get to the pearly gates, I'll have some explaining to do.
Often used humorously or ironically.
Sky or bliss
- paradiseIdeal, blissful place
- eternityBoundless temporal existence
- salvationDeliverance from harm
- judgmentReasoned decision-making capacity
soul · hereafter · resurrection · ascension · limbo · purgatory · afterworld · ancestors
Of or from gods
- holyDedicated to the divine
- blessedReceiving divine favor
- sanctifiedMade sacred through blessing
- celestialOf the sky above
angelic · seraphic · heavenly · hallowed · consecrated · glorified · spiritual · eternal
Point of beginning
- gatewayPoint of access
- portalImposing entrance or gate
- doorwayPassage into a room
- passageSegment of text
archway · entrance · opening · admittance · St. Peter · welcome · arrival · crossing
Absence of pigment
- luminousEmitting or reflecting light
- goldenBright yellow, or precious
- radiantEmitting light or joy
- gleamingReflecting light brightly
shimmering · iridescent · lustrous · ornate · glowing · opalescent · jeweled · precious
heaven
Sky or bliss
judgment · soul · hereafter · resurrection · ascension · limbo · purgatory · afterworld · ancestors · St. Peter
divine
Of or from gods
- holyDedicated to the divine
- blessedReceiving divine favor
- sanctifiedMade sacred through blessing
celestial · angelic · seraphic · heavenly · hallowed · consecrated · glorified · spiritual · eternal · sacred
threshold
Point of beginning
passage · archway · entrance · opening · admittance · St. Peter · welcome · arrival · crossing · boundary
white
Absence of pigment
gleaming · shimmering · iridescent · lustrous · ornate · glowing · opalescent · jeweled · precious · alabaster
death
Cessation of life
departure · last breath · closure · farewell · fate · destiny · ultimate · transition · mortality · end of life
- Heavenparadise, eternal life, kingdom of heaven, New Jerusalem, heavenly city
- Heavenlycelestial, divine, eternal, paradise, halo
- paradiseparadise, Eden, edenic, Garden of Eden, elysian
- Afterlife ArtLast Judgment, Divine Comedy, Sistine Chapel, Inferno, Paradise
- Biblical Afterlifeheaven, paradise, Hades, Gehenna, lake of fire
- heavenly rewardseternal life, everlasting life, crown of life, crown of glory, heavenly inheritance
pearly gatesgates of hell
Entrance to damnation
hellfire · Hades · the underworld · lake of fire · perdition
pearly gatesouter darkness
Complete exclusion from presence
banishment · the fall · expulsion · damnation