dreamer
Americannoun
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dreamers
plural
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a person who dreams.
The dream provides insights into the interior life of the dreamer, or so say many psychotherapists.
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a person who lives in a world of fantasy; one who is impractical and unrealistic.
The phrase "economically illiterate" has long been used to smear leftists as unrealistic utopian dreamers.
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a person whose ideas or projects are considered audacious or highly speculative; visionary.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., was considered a dreamer—and what a wonderful dream it is!
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Usually Dreamer Sometimes DREAMer a person who qualifies for DACA or the Dream Act.
noun
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a person who dreams habitually
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a person who lives in or escapes to a world of fantasy or illusion; escapist
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archaic a prophet; visionary
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of dreamer
First recorded in 1250–1300; dreamer def. 4 first recorded in 2010–15; Middle English; see dream, -er 1 ( def. )
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:
In each of those projects, Johnson created a role for himself, typically a clownish dreamer.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 11, 2026
"Ever since I was young, I've always been such a dreamer, so being able to live out my dreams and experience things like this only makes me more ambitious."
From BBC ● Jul. 4, 2026
With “Disclosure Day,” it’s clear that this unprecedented, Earth-shattering event brought oft-pondered questions about empathy and humanism back to the forefront for cinema’s great dreamer.
From Salon ● Jun. 13, 2026
"I've always been a dreamer, but I could never have imagined that an honor like this would come to a working-class English soccer player like me," he said.
From Barron's ● Jun. 12, 2026
He would cut him in on the profits, but Tom was a dreamer and could not be trusted with a good sound plan.
From "East of Eden" by John Steinbeck
To this day, Sand’s literature continues to eloquently embody the role that self-construction plays in the lives of dreamers and intellectuals of every generation.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026
Some of the homeowners that list are also “dreamers, and we have a lot of dreamers right now,” he added, because they insist on selling at the price their neighbors sold at three years ago.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 14, 2026
Boston has been overtaken by Ball Boys, full-time dreamers and relentless ambassadors for their country.
From BBC ● Jun. 19, 2026
“RUM exists to build the future where that ingenuity wins, and to make sure it belongs to the dreamers and the doers,” said CEO Chris Pavlovski.
From Barron's ● Jun. 18, 2026
Late-night shortwave: province of ramblers and dreamers, madmen and ranters.
From "All the Light We Cannot See" by Anthony Doerr
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.
