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
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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)
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dreamed,
past participle, past
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dreamt,
past participle, past
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dreaming
present participle
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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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-
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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
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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:
What happened to Harry and Meghan's American dream?
From BBC ● Aug. 21, 2026
Many young people now dream of retiring extra early.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 21, 2026
Today, the chef’s perfect Sunday is a foodie’s dream — sampling food from around L.A. by driving to different parts of the city, and savoring his alone time the entire day.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 21, 2026
Some companies post less-than-real ads to build a pipeline for jobs that might open up someday or in case they reel in a dream candidate too good to pass up.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 21, 2026
It felt like trying to remember a dream after waking up, like the memory was there, but just out of reach.
From "Glitch" by Laura Martin
If Hawaii’s dreams could be pinned on a single person, it might be Trung Lam.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 20, 2026
Evergrande Group was once the face of Chinese real estate, surfing a decades-long property boom as it peddled home-ownership dreams.
From Barron's ● Aug. 20, 2026
This Moneyist reader dreams of a world where low-income Americans have little or even no deductible.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 18, 2026
"Four golds was the dream and perhaps dreams do come true," said Hunt.
From BBC ● Aug. 17, 2026
The best that a girl with all dreams and no shoes could hope to have.
From "Night Owls" by A.R. Vishny
Where Tumblr-ites dreamed of the cloistered quads and moody libraries of Princeton in the 2010s, TikTok-ers now obsess over the elaborate rituals of University of Alabama sororities.
From Salon ● Aug. 16, 2026
Not long ago, Ram thought it had dreamed up the perfect engine for its pickups.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 13, 2026
The statement said In-N-Out was Ashley’s first job and that she dreamed of managing one of the stores.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 4, 2026
When Anita bought her house in the upmarket town of Epping, she dreamed of a happy retirement enjoying the nature surrounding her.
From BBC ● Aug. 2, 2026
Though I didn’t mean to blink until Beatrice and Louise were back, I dozed off and dreamed that I’d missed the railing and was feeding myself to the fishes.
From "Secrets at Sea" by Richard Peck
Growing up in her family's bakery, she had dreamt of one day running her own business.
From BBC ● Aug. 19, 2026
Money itself is just a construct, one with rules dreamt up by humans.
From Salon ● Aug. 12, 2026
"That was the moment I realised somebody had to do something," said the wildlife biologist, who never dreamt of a career revolving around the sea.
From Barron's ● Jul. 23, 2026
For Sonnenshine, who was in the middle of working on Season 2, the reality of making the series has been even more rewarding than what she dreamt of as a child.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 9, 2026
That night he dreamt of wildlings howling from the woods, advancing to the moan of warhoms and the roll of drums.
From "A Dance with Dragons" by George R. R. Martin
Advice for a burned-out breadwinner: A letter writer who’s outwardly successful by all measures—a wife, kids, a well-paying job—can’t stop dreaming about leaving it all behind.
From Slate ● Aug. 20, 2026
At the halfway mark of the Olympic quadrennial, Truwit is already dreaming about L.A.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 16, 2026
"It feels like you're dreaming your day away," he said.
From BBC ● Aug. 15, 2026
Still, they’re already dreaming of coming back to cycle down the Rhône from Switzerland to the Mediterranean.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 10, 2026
Mikhail Botvinnik claimed that during his World Championship match with Vasily Smyslov, he awoke one night, walked naked to his board, and played the move that he was dreaming about in his adjourned game.
From "Endgame" by Frank Brady
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.
