dream
Americannoun
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dreams
plural
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a succession of images, thoughts, or emotions passing through the mind during sleep.
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the sleeping state in which this occurs.
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an object seen in a dream.
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an involuntary vision occurring to a person when awake.
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a vision voluntarily indulged in while awake; daydream; reverie.
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an aspiration; goal; aim.
A trip to Europe is his dream.
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a wild or vain fancy.
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something of an unreal beauty, charm, or excellence.
verb (used without object)
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dreams,
present (3rd person singular)
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dreamed,
past participle, past
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dreamt,
past participle, past
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dreaming
present participle
-
to have a dream.
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to indulge in daydreams or reveries.
He dreamed about vacation plans when he should have been working.
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to think or conceive of something in a very remote way (usually followed byof ).
I wouldn't dream of asking them.
verb (used with object)
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dreams,
present (3rd person singular)
-
dreamed,
past participle, past
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dreamt,
past participle, past
-
dreaming
present participle
-
to see or imagine in sleep or in a vision.
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to imagine as if in a dream; fancy; suppose.
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to pass or spend (time) in dreaming (often followed byaway ).
to dream away the afternoon.
adjective
verb phrase
noun
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mental activity, usually in the form of an imagined series of events, occurring during certain phases of sleep
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( as modifier )
a dream sequence
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( in combination )
dreamland
-
-
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a sequence of imaginative thoughts indulged in while awake; daydream; fantasy
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( as modifier )
a dream world
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a person or thing seen or occurring in a dream
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a cherished hope; ambition; aspiration
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a vain hope
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a person or thing that is as pleasant, or seemingly unreal, as a dream
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to move, develop, or work very well
verb
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(may take a clause as object) to undergo or experience (a dream or dreams)
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(intr) to indulge in daydreams
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(intr) to suffer delusions; be unrealistic
you're dreaming if you think you can win
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to have an image (of) or fantasy (about) in or as if in a dream
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to consider the possibility (of)
I wouldn't dream of troubling you
adjective
Synonym Usage
Dream, nightmare, and vision refer to the kinds of mental images that form during sleep. Dream is the general term for any such succession of images. A nightmare is a dream that brings fear or anxiety: frightened by a nightmare. Vision refers to a series of images of unusual vividness, clarity, order, and significance, sometimes seen in a dream.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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dreamfulnessnoun
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dreamingnoun
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dreamlessnessnoun
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redreamverb
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dreamfuladjective
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dreamlessadjective
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dreamlikeadjective
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undreamedadjective
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undreamingadjective
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undreamlikeadjective
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dreamfullyadverb
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dreaminglyadverb
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dreamlesslyadverb
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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dreamsimple
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dreamssimple
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have dreamedperfect
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have dreamtperfect
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has dreamedperfect
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has dreamtperfect
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am dreamingprogressive
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are dreamingprogressive
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is dreamingprogressive
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have been dreamingperfect progressive
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has been dreamingperfect progressive
Past
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dreamedsimple
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dreamtsimple
-
had dreamedperfect
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had dreamtperfect
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was dreamingprogressive
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were dreamingprogressive
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had been dreamingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of dream
First recorded in 1200–50; Middle English dreem, Old English drēam “joy, mirth, gladness,” cognate with Old Saxon drōm “mirth, dream,” Old Norse draumr, Old High German troum “dream”
Explanation
A dream is one of the little movies in your mind that play at night, or a type of hope: you might dream of being a doctor. Everyone dreams, and dreams tend to be weird, but the images and sounds that fill your head as you sleep are just part of the meaning of this word. People also have dreams that are kind of like plans and goals: many people dream of being movie stars. A good car runs like a dream. Something too good to be true feels like a dream. If you're acting confused, someone might say, "Stop dreaming!"
Vocabulary lists containing dream
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
"I just always had the dream of playing for the Wallabies. I am stoked every time I get to do it."
From BBC ● Nov. 5, 2026
After graduation, she plans to work her way up to directing — even if that means taking other jobs such as teaching and working in a restaurant to achieve her dream.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 5, 2026
It cautioned of "a shortage of food supplies and soaring prices, making access to even a single daily meal a dream".
From Barron's ● Nov. 5, 2026
The new show, though rather diminutive in size, celebrates the Statue of Liberty as reverie, as a dream not yet come true, and the effect couldn’t be greater.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 4, 2026
In the dream, Jessica was in a black car.
From "Firegirl" by Tony Abbott
Jim Newell explains that Tuesday night, a shocking number of Democrats’ dreams came to fruition.
From Slate ● Nov. 4, 2026
There are some tricky visual effects to represent dreams, visions and memories that don’t fit well with the casual naturalism of the bulk of the series.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 3, 2026
As a young man, he began having prophetic dreams of his wife dying in childbirth.
From Salon ● Nov. 3, 2026
“He dreams of being a truck driver. But I told him my job is to replace truck drivers,” Liu said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 30, 2026
And of all dreams, this was surely the most ordinary.
From "Night Owls" by A.R. Vishny
The 36-year-old, from Dukinfield, said she had always dreamed of having her father walking her down the aisle.
From BBC ● Oct. 30, 2026
Ever since he was a boy, Hassabis dreamed of building a form of artificial intelligence that would be smart enough to crack the mysteries of the universe.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 21, 2026
Genres was dreamed up Clare Grant and Karissa Marston, who brought the project to Gensler and tapped them to lead its design.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 20, 2026
In the morning, he would explain, “I dreamed the Japanese were coming at me.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 15, 2026
“No, Mama,” I said, “I’m not sick. I dreamed all night and I didn’t sleep very good.”
From "Summer of the Monkeys" by Wilson Rawls
We are introduced to mortgage-backed securities and to the people who dreamt them up and abused them, antiheroes of the 2007-09 debt debacle.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 2, 2026
Tilbrook: Paul sang it in a way that I could never have dreamt of singing it.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 16, 2026
From a modest family, he dreamt of becoming a computer engineer to "change his life", he told AFP, withholding his surname because "the fear is still there".
From Barron's ● Sep. 1, 2026
Money itself is just a construct, one with rules dreamt up by humans.
From Salon ● Aug. 12, 2026
Others said that it didn’t matter, that all that mattered was that Angela had dreamt of him, and that he was dead.
From "145th Street: Short Stories" by Walter Dean Myers
Within a decade, scientists were dreaming about machines that would be smarter than us at everything, including the design of machines.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 31, 2026
The former brilliantly evokes wistful teenage dreaming as a character walks through their high school, adorned by a yearning Caroline Polachek song and light-pink diary scribblings.
From Salon ● Oct. 29, 2026
One of these resembles REM sleep, the phase in humans associated with rapid eye movements, muscle activity, and vivid dreaming.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 27, 2026
Messi and Ronaldo's brilliance, and often tribal online following, has also driven an increased emphasis on individual records - among fans, media and the players who grew up dreaming of emulating them.
From BBC ● Oct. 23, 2026
Rani knows the way to the station, so all I have to do is follow her, which is a good thing, since my brain feels all fuzzy, as if I'm dreaming.
From "Born Behind Bars" by Padma Venkatraman
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