Definition

1. Noun:

   • A series of thoughts, images, and sensations occurring in a person's mind during sleep: A dream is the mental activity you experience while sleeping.
   • A cherished aspiration, ambition, or ideal: A dream is a very desired and hoped-for goal or situation in your waking life.
   • A state of mind detached from reality: A dream can describe a condition where someone is lost in thought, not fully aware of their surroundings.
   • Someone or something wonderful or perfect: Informally, a dream can refer to an excellent or ideal person or thing.

2. Verb (dreamt/dreamed, dreamt/dreamed):

   • To experience dreams during sleep: To dream is to have images and stories occur in your mind while you are asleep.
   • To indulge in daydreams or fantasies: To dream is to think about something you hope for or imagine, often in a pleasant but unrealistic way.
   • To consider as a possibility (usually in negative constructions): To dream of something can mean to think about it happening, often used to say you never thought something would occur.

Usage Examples

• Noun:

  • I had a strange dream about flying last night.
  • Her lifelong dream is to travel the world.
  • He walked through the museum in a dream, not really seeing the paintings.
  • This new car is an absolute dream to drive.

• Verb:

  • Do you dream in color?
  • She dreams of becoming a famous singer one day.
  • I wouldn't dream of being late for such an important meeting.

Advanced Usage

• "A pipe dream": A hope or plan that is impossible or very unlikely to happen.

  • His idea of becoming a millionaire by next year is just a pipe dream.

• "Beyond your wildest dreams": Far better or more than you could ever have imagined or hoped for.

  • The success of the product was beyond our wildest dreams.

• "In your dreams": Used informally to tell someone that what they want or suggest is never going to happen.

  • "I think she likes me." — "In your dreams!"

Variants and Related Words

• Dreamer (n): A person who dreams or who is often lost in fantasy or impractical ideas.
  • He's a dreamer with many grand plans.
• Dreamy (adj): Having a magical or pleasantly unreal quality; or, tending to daydream.
  • The music had a soft, dreamy quality.
• Dreamlike (adj): Having the qualities of a dream; surreal.
  • The fog gave the landscape a dreamlike appearance.

Synonyms

• Noun (aspiration): Ambition, goal, hope, vision.
• Verb (imagine): Fantasize, daydream, envision.

Related Phrasal Verbs

• Dream up: To invent or think of an idea, plan, or excuse, especially an unusual or imaginative one.
  • He dreamed up a crazy scheme to get rich quick.
• Dream away: To spend time in a lazy or unproductive way by daydreaming.
  • She dreamed away the afternoon by the window.

Related Idioms

• Like a dream: Working perfectly or very well.
  • The new engine runs like a dream.
• A dream come true: Something very desired that has actually happened.
  • Winning the scholarship was a dream come true for her.

Noun

1. someone or something wonderful
   • this dessert is a dream
2. a state of mind characterized by abstraction and release from reality
   • he went about his work as if in a dream
3. a fantastic but vain hope (from fantasies induced by the opium pipe)
   • I have this pipe dream about being emperor of the universe
4. a cherished desire
   • his ambition is to own his own business
5. imaginative thoughts indulged in while awake
   • he lives in a dream that has nothing to do with reality
6. a series of mental images and emotions occurring during sleep
   • I had a dream about you last night

Verb

1. experience while sleeping
   • She claims to never dream
   • He dreamt a strange scene
2. have a daydream; indulge in a fantasy