reverie

American  

[rev-uh-ree] / ˈrɛv ə ri /

Sometimes revery

noun

reveries plural

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.

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reverie British  

/ 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

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• reveries
  plural

Etymology

Origin of reverie

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

Explanation

If you're relaxing on the beach, dreaming of how you will never have to get up and go back to work, you're engaged in a reverie, or pleasant daydream. There's nothing wrong with reverie, but if you follow its path into English, you'll see how closely it is connected to madness. The noun is from French rêverie, from a Middle French word meaning "wild speech, delirium," from rever "to roam, speak wildly." Middle French rever is also the source of English rave, as in raving mad.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

reverie reveries

Watching the film is akin to trying to explain a night’s reverie to a friend, with specific details just out of reach and fading the faster you try to remember them.

From Salon ● Apr. 24, 2026

This time, the soloist was the stellar emerging pianist Yunchan Lim, who keeps to himself, either lost in dreamy reverie or, like a jumpy teenager, in ferocious attack mode.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 19, 2026

This moves the contact into the seldom used “X file,” where I can, in my moments of reverie, review and remind myself of those once treasured relationships.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2025

He is likely to find this reverie equally fantastical.

From Slate ● May 8, 2025

“What did you do with yourself today?” he asked, snapping me out of my reverie.

From "Twilight" by Stephenie Meyer

Just as musical reveries reveal our secret selves, they also point to what we share with others.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 15, 2026

The Nobel laureate was a poet of unblinking candor and perception who wove classical allusions, philosophical reveries, bittersweet memories and humorous asides into indelible portraits of a fallen and heartrending world.

From Seattle Times ● Dec. 3, 2023

A hamburger stand-turned-roadhouse up against rolling hills, it belongs to plein-air reveries of old California but with dozens of Harley-Davidsons parked out front, glinting in the sun.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 27, 2023

There's Callier, a bar that can inspire Proustian reveries across generations of Eurail clutching backpackers.

From Salon ● Aug. 13, 2023

But I am letting myself be carried away by reveries which I must now put aside, writes Aronnax.

From "All the Light We Cannot See" by Anthony Doerr

Related Words

• contemplation
• fantasy
• meditation
• trance