match made in heaven

English

Pronunciation

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Noun

match made in heaven (plural matches made in heaven)

1. (idiomatic) A relationship, such as a marriage, that is happy and successful, sometimes because the partners are very compatible.
   • 1860, Anne Beale, Gladys, the Reaper‎^[1]:

     He and Mrs Jonathan were a remarkable pair; one of those ill-assorted couples that you wonder at. ‘How in the world did they come together?’ was the usual question, the philosophic reply to which would have been, that theirs was actually one of the ‘Matches made in heaven.’ The gentleman got money to enable him to follow the bent of his genius without anxiety for his daily bread, and therewith a stirring wife to take care of him and his house; the wife got her great desideratum, a husband, and therewith the desideratum of all women, her own way.

2. (by extension) A very successful combination of two people or things.
   • 2002, Nick Stellino, “Pere al Cioccolatto”, in Nick Stellino's Glorious Italian Cooking, Penguin, →ISBN, page 180:

     The pear essence combined with the chocolate is a match made in heaven.

Antonyms

• match made in hell

See also

• made for each other