dream
Pluraldreams
Pluraldreams
Formsdreams, dreaming, dreamed
- 1A series of imagined events that appear in the mind during sleep.
He recounted a vivid dream in which he could breathe underwater.
Most people forget their dreams within minutes of waking.
UsageYou have a dream (not
incorrect: make a dream), often about something: a dream about flying.Similarvision
Note
The night-time sense is not the oldest one: Old English drēam meant "music, joy."
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 1 fact
- The sleeping sense is later in the English written record than the Old English meanings music and joy. en.wikipedia.org
- 2A deeply held hope, wish, or aspiration for the future.
Becoming a published novelist had been her dream since childhood.
They built the company from nothing, chasing a shared dream.
UsageYou follow, fulfill or realize a dream, or make a dream come true.
Similarambition, aspiration, hope, wish, goal
- 3
- 4To experience images and events in the mind while asleep; to have a dream, or to see something in one.
People dream in every stage of sleep, though most vividly in REM.
She dreamed about her childhood home again last night.
UsagePast forms dreamed or dreamt; often followed by a clause: I dreamed (that) I was flying.
Note
Edward FitzGerald's Rubáiyát (1859) opens a stanza on the bare participle: "Dreaming when Dawn's Left Hand was in the Sky."
Checked 3 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
- Edward FitzGerald translated the Rubáiyát. en.wikisource.org
- FitzGerald's Rubáiyát was first published in 1859. en.wikisource.org
- A stanza opens with the quoted line, beginning with the participle Dreaming. gutenberg.org
- 5Ideal or perfect; representing the very best one could wish for.
The cottage by the lake was their dream retirement spot.
Winning that scholarship was the dream outcome for every applicant.
UsageGoes before a noun: a dream house, a dream job. After a verb, use the noun: the job was a dream.
Similarideal, perfect, ultimate
Note
It almost always stands before a noun, as in a dream house, a dream job or a dream debut, and seldom after a verb. David Bowie's "Golden Years" (1975) imagines a ride in an enormously long dream car.
- 6An exceptionally pleasing person or thing, especially one that works flawlessly or is a delight to deal with.
The editor was a dream to work with: fast, kind, and always right about the cuts.
After years of fighting with the old printer, the new one is an absolute dream.
UsageOften a dream to work with, an absolute dream.
Oppositenightmare
- 7An unrealistic plan, a far-fetched notion, or an idle fancy.
Their scheme to drain the swamp by hand proved an idle dream.
Critics dismissed the proposal as the dream of a hopeless idealist.
UsageOften an idle dream, an impossible dream, or a pipe dream.
Similarfantasy, fancy, illusion, delusion, chimera
Oppositereality
Note
Where a hope can come true, this kind of dream is marked as never quite real.
- 8To indulge in pleasant, wandering thoughts while awake; to daydream.
He spent the whole afternoon dreaming instead of working.
On the long train ride, she liked to sit by the window and dream about the summer ahead.
Similardaydream, fantasize, muse
Oppositeconcentrate, focus
- 9To seriously consider doing something, or to imagine that something might happen; used mostly in the negative.
He wouldn't dream of arriving late to such an important meeting.
I would not dream of imposing on your hospitality.
UsageTakes of (often with an -ing verb) or a that clause: I wouldn't dream of asking; she never dreamed it would happen.
Similarconsider, contemplate, think, imagine
Note
A verb of refusal in disguise. Shakespeare's Hamlet keeps the of in a passive: more things "than are dreamt of in your philosophy."
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- William Shakespeare wrote Hamlet. gutenberg.org
- Hamlet contains the quoted words, with 'dreamt of' in a passive construction; the character Hamlet speaks them to Horatio. internetshakespeare.uvic.ca
Less common meaning
- 10A daze or absent-minded state in which one takes little notice of one's surroundings.
He drifted through the rest of the meeting in a dream, nodding at nothing.
Still in a dream from lack of sleep, she poured orange juice into her coffee.
UsageMostly in a dream, after verbs like walk, drift or go about.
Note
In a daze is the close neighbor, though a daze leans toward shock or tiredness while a dream suggests a mind that has wandered off.
Showing meanings only.
Practice
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Origin
From Middle English drem, from Old English drēam ("music, joy"), going back through Proto-Germanic *draumaz to a Proto-Indo-European root *dʰrewgʰ- ("to deceive, injure"). The "dream" sense is not clearly attested in Old English and may have been reinforced or borrowed from Old Norse draumr, which comes from the same Germanic root. It is related to words like Dutch droom, German Traum, and Swedish dröm, and the verb likewise comes from Middle English dremen.
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 9 facts
- Dream comes through Middle English drem from Old English drēam and Proto-Germanic *draumaz. en.wiktionary.org
- Old English drēam meant music and joy. en.wiktionary.org
- Proto-Germanic *draumaz derives ultimately from the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European root *dʰrewgʰ-, meaning to deceive or injure. en.wiktionary.org
- The sleeping-vision sense is not clearly attested for Old English drēam. en.wiktionary.org
- Old Norse draumr may have reinforced or supplied the sleeping-vision meaning. en.wikipedia.org
- Old Norse draumr descends from the same Proto-Germanic form. en.wiktionary.org
- Dream is related to Dutch droom and German Traum. en.wiktionary.org
- Dream is related to Swedish dröm. en.wiktionary.org
- The English verb dream descends from Middle English dremen. en.wiktionary.org