reverie

Sometimes rev·er·y

[rev-uh-ree]

noun

1. a state of dreamy meditation or fanciful musing.

   lost in reverie.

   Synonyms: brown study, abstraction

2. a daydream.

3. a fantastic, visionary, or impractical idea.

   reveries that will never come to fruition.

4. Music.,  an instrumental composition of a vague and dreamy character.

reverie

/ ˈrɛvərɪ /

noun

1. an act or state of absent-minded daydreaming

   to fall into a reverie

2. a piece of instrumental music suggestive of a daydream

3. archaic,  a fanciful or visionary notion; daydream

Word History and Origins

Origin of reverie¹

First recorded in 1325–75; Middle English, from Old French reverie, resverie, derivative of rever, resver, raver “to speak wildly, wander, dream”; rave ¹, -ery

Word History and Origins

Origin of reverie¹

C14: from Old French resverie wildness, from resver to behave wildly, of uncertain origin; see _rave ¹

Example Sentences

“Spirit Voices” conjured an ayahuasca reverie with its thicket of guitars and hand percussion, while the sprawling and time-signature-bending “The Cool, Cool River” showed Simon the musician — not just the poet — still in absolute command.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Now, shaken from a reverie, reality collides with illusion at the languid pace of a stream.

Read more on Salon

The artists and activists, Mexican immigrants in a border town on the Rio Grande, tilt at policies targeting not only their families and neighbors but their bodies — amid sequences of chaotic abandon and stargazing reverie.

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But as he travels home on the boat, shutting out the world with giant sunglasses and a baggy hoodie, Lochlan doesn’t really seem to have learned anything from his reverie.

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When Lennon presented McCartney with “Strawberry Fields Forever,” a woozy reverie loosely based on his childhood, McCartney wrote his own memory piece, “Penny Lane.”

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• contemplation 
• fantasy 
• meditation 
• trance