oneiric
Americanadjective
adjective
Etymology
Origin of oneiric
First recorded in 1855–60; from Greek óneir(os) “dream” + -ic
Explanation
Oneiric is an adjective that describes things related to dreams. At the end of The Wizard of Oz, you are left to decide if Dorothy really traveled to Oz or if she was simply in an oneiric state, dreaming up the whole adventure. Oneiric comes from the Greek word oneiros, meaning "a dream." In Greek mythology, the Oneiroi, or Dreams, were the brothers (or sons, depending on the author) of Hypnos, or Sleep. Homer, Ovid, and Euripides all wrote about them — Homer in both The Odyssey and The Iliad. The adjective oneiric is often used in film theory to describe the dream-like elements of a movie.
Vocabulary lists containing oneiric
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.
Fans of Haruki Murakami’s melancholy, oneiric tales will also delight in Lim’s assault upon consensus reality.
From Washington Post • Oct. 1, 2021
Ornate and oneiric, the results are well worth circling and circling back to.
From New York Times • Oct. 20, 2020
Elsewhere, there is a naïve, almost oneiric undertow.
From The New Yorker • Mar. 27, 2017
The result was an oneiric, viscerally frightening combination of all-too-real historical horrors and Hollywood-enabled fantasy.
From Slate • Jul. 17, 2015
It is now the age of oneiric culture, the culture of dreams.
From "Feed" by M.T. Anderson
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
