unparadise
Etymology
From un- + paradise.
unparadise means to make (something paradisaical) less like paradise; To spoil the joy of. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 87 out of 100.
Why “unparadise” is a great word
UNPARADISE — [Verb] To expel from paradise or to spoil the paradisiacal quality of something. From the English prefix un- (expressing reversal or deprivation) + paradise (from Old French paradis, via Late Latin from Greek paradeisos, meaning "enclosed park, paradise"). Unlike "banish," a blunt geopolitical removal from any community, or "taint," a subtle corruption by the introduction of a flaw, to unparadise is the systematic dismantling of a given Eden. It is the first sharp stone underfoot in a once-soft meadow, the precise moment a remembered home feels merely like a house, or the creeping recognition in a lover’s eye that the garden gate now stands open to the world. The verb mourns the quiet catastrophe of learning the garden was only ever on loan.
verb
- To make (something paradisaical) less like paradise; To spoil the joy of.“Could you, so rich in rapture, fear an end,
That ghastly thought would drink up all your joy,
And quite unparadise the realms of light.”
- To expel from or prevent from entering heaven.“Archangels guard the gates with flaming swords, The same, 'tis said, who at an earlier day Did man unparadise;”