dream

/drim/

/drim/

Other forms: dreams; dreamed; dreaming; dreamt

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!"

Definitions of dream

1. noun

   a series of mental images and emotions occurring during sleep
   “I had a dream about you last night”

   synonyms: dreaming

   types:

   nightmare

   a terrifying or deeply upsetting dream

   type of:

   imagery, imagination, imaging, mental imagery

   the ability to form mental images of things or events
2. noun

   imaginative thoughts indulged in while awake
   “he lives in a dream that has nothing to do with reality”

   synonyms: dreaming

   types:

   air castle, castle in Spain, castle in the air, daydream, daydreaming, oneirism, reverie, revery

   absentminded dreaming while awake

   woolgathering

   an idle indulgence in fantasy

   type of:

   imagination, imaginativeness, vision

   the formation of a mental image of something that is not perceived as real and is not present to the senses
3. noun

   a state of mind characterized by abstraction and release from reality
   “he went about his work as if in a dream”

   type of:

   reverie, revery

   an abstracted state of absorption
4. noun

   a cherished desire
   synonyms: ambition, aspiration

   types:

   American Dream

   the widespread aspiration of Americans to live better than their parents did

   emulation

   ambition to equal or excel

   nationalism

   the aspiration for national independence felt by people under foreign domination

   type of:

   desire

   the feeling that accompanies an unsatisfied state
5. noun

   a fantastic but vain hope (from fantasies induced by the opium pipe)
   “I have this pipe dream about being emperor of the universe”

   synonyms: pipe dream

   type of:

   fantasy, phantasy

   imagination unrestricted by reality
6. noun

   someone or something wonderful
   “this dessert is a dream”

   type of:

   flawlessness, ne plus ultra, perfection

   the state of being without a flaw or defect
7. verb

   experience while sleeping
   “She claims to never dream”

   “He dreamt a strange scene”

   type of:

   comprehend, perceive

   become aware of through the senses
8. verb

   have a daydream; indulge in a fantasy
   synonyms: daydream, stargaze, woolgather

   type of:

   conceive of, envisage, ideate, imagine

   form a mental image of something that is not present or that is not the case