# dream

Pronunciation: US say "DREEM" /dɹiːm/; UK

## Noun

1. A series of imagined events that appear in the mind during sleep.
   - Simple: The pictures and stories your mind makes while you are asleep.
   - _He recounted a vivid dream in which he could breathe underwater._
   - _Most people forget their dreams within minutes of waking._
2. A deeply held hope, wish, or aspiration for the future.
   - Simple: Something you really want to happen in your life.
   - _Becoming a published novelist had been her dream since childhood._
   - _They built the company from nothing, chasing a shared dream._
6. An exceptionally pleasing person or thing, especially one that works flawlessly or is a delight to deal with.
   - Simple: A person or thing that is wonderful, works perfectly or is very easy and pleasant 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._
7. An unrealistic plan, a far-fetched notion, or an idle fancy.
   - Simple: A plan or idea that sounds nice but can never really work.
   - _Their scheme to drain the swamp by hand proved an idle dream._
   - _Critics dismissed the proposal as the dream of a hopeless idealist._
10. A daze or absent-minded state in which one takes little notice of one's surroundings.
   - Simple: A state of mind where you are so lost in your thoughts that you hardly notice what is going on.
   - _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._

## Verb

3. To hope or wish earnestly for something.
   - Simple: To hope strongly for something you really want.
   - _We dream of a day when the disease is finally cured._
   - _He dreamed of playing professional soccer as a boy._
4. To experience images and events in the mind while asleep; to have a dream, or to see something in one.
   - Simple: To see pictures and events in your mind while you are asleep.
   - _People dream in every stage of sleep, though most vividly in REM._
   - _She dreamed about her childhood home again last night._
8. To indulge in pleasant, wandering thoughts while awake; to daydream.
   - Simple: To let your mind wander to pleasant thoughts while awake.
   - _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._
9. To seriously consider doing something, or to imagine that something might happen; used mostly in the negative.
   - Simple: To even think about doing something, or imagine something could happen, usually to say you never would or never did.
   - _He wouldn't dream of arriving late to such an important meeting._
   - _I would not dream of imposing on your hospitality._

## Adjective

5. Ideal or perfect; representing the very best one could wish for.
   - Simple: Perfect in every way, just what someone wants.
   - _The cottage by the lake was their dream retirement spot._
   - _Winning that scholarship was the dream outcome for every applicant._

## 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.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/dream (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).