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

At night, Elle shrugs on her father’s heavy black coat and slips into a reverie about a myth in which a grief-stricken murderer called the Leather Man searches for his lost daughter.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 23, 2026

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

Breuer has made this his rallying cry as he drives change in the armed forces and tries to jolt Germans from their post-Cold War, end-of-history reverie.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 12, 2026

He is likely to find this reverie equally fantastical.

From Slate ● May 8, 2025

Then a sudden movement catches my eye, breaking my reverie.

From "Ophelia" by Lisa Klein

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

With club music producers Gordo, Major Lazer and Afrojack on deck, singles like “Nel” and “Secreto Victoria” put their sound in a whole new context — from poolside mezcal reveries to foggy, strobelit nightclubs.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 8, 2024

For an opera steeped in raptures and reveries, in which fantasies of romantic bliss compete with premonitions of a pessimistic outcome, Sierra and Bernheim were a dream at the revival’s second performance on Sunday.

From New York Times ● Mar. 11, 2024

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

As the word ‘brotherly’ passed through his mind in one of his reveries, he smiled, and glanced up at the picture of Mozart that was before him...

From "Little Women" by Louisa May Alcott

Related Words

• contemplation
• fantasy
• meditation
• trance