Word.ws English Dictionary

dream

/ˈdɹiːm//ˈdɹim/

dream noun: imaginary events seen in the mind while sleeping.

Noun (1)

dream (plural dreams)

  1. Imaginary events seen in the mind while sleeping.
    • Last night I had a vividly scary dream about an immortal snail that chased me around and could kill me if it touched me.
    • Crazy things like that only happen in dreams.
    Synonyms:
    sweven
  2. (figuratively) A hope or wish.
    • This year I fulfilled a lifelong dream of visiting the South Pacific.
    • So this was my future home, I thought![…]Backed by towering hills, the but faintly discernible purple line of the French boundary off to the southwest, a sky of palest Gobelin flecked with fat, fleecy little clouds, it in truth looked a dear little city; the city of one's dreams.1908, W[illiam] B[lair] M[orton] Ferguson, chapter IV, in Zollenstein, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC
  3. A visionary scheme; a wild conceit; an idle fancy.
    • live in a dream
    • wake up from a dream
    Synonyms:
    vision

Verb

dream (third-person singular simple present dreams, present participle dreaming, simple past and past participle dreamed or dreamt)

  1. (intransitive) To see imaginary events in one's mind while sleeping.
    • Although people primarily dream during the REM phase of sleeping, they can dream during non-REM sleep as well.
    • Dreaming when Dawn's Left Hand was in the Sky / I heard a Voice within the Tavern cry, / "Awake, my Little ones, and fill the Cup / Before Life's Liquor in its Cup be dry."1859, Omar Khayyam, “(please specify the quatrain number in uppercase Roman numerals)”, in [Edward FitzGerald], transl., Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám, the Astronomer-Poet of Persia. […], facsimile...
  2. (intransitive) To hope, to wish.
    • Lucy dreams of becoming a scientist when she grows up.
  3. (intransitive) To daydream.
    • Stop dreaming and get back to work.
  4. (transitive) To envision as an imaginary experience (usually when asleep).
    • I dreamed a vivid dream last night.
    • And still they dream that they shall still succeed.1782–1785, William Cowper, “(please specify the page)”, in The Task, a Poem, […], London: […] J[oseph] Johnson; […], →OCLC
  5. (intransitive) To consider the possibility (of).
    • I wouldn't dream of snubbing you in public.
    • There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, / Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac...

Adjective

dream (not comparable)

  1. Ideal; perfect.
    • Gonna drive back down where you once belonged / In the back of a dream car, twenty foot long1975, David Bowie, “Golden Years”, in Station to Station
    • If a girl who talked like that was not his dream girl, he didn't know a dream girl when he heard one.2014, P.G. Wodehouse, Jeeves and the Yule-Tide Spirit and Other Stories, Random House, →ISBN, page 158

Noun (2) capitalized: DREAM

DREAM (uncountable)

  1. (US, abbreviation, acronym) Acronym of development, relief, and education for alien minors.
    • For years, my state of Washington tried to pass its own state Dream Act. […] If President Trump will not protect Dreamers, Congress must immediately pass the bipartisan DREAM Act and provide permanent protection for these young Americans.2017 August 24, Jay Inslee, “American dreams of young people will be cruelly ripped away”, in CNN

dream meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

dream in Hindi

imaginary events seen while sleeping
सपना sapnā, ख़्वाब xvāb
hope or wish
ख़्वाब xvāb, सपना sapnā, आरज़ू ārzū, ख़याल xayāl
see imaginary events while sleeping
सपना देखना sapnā dekhnā

dream in Tamil

imaginary events seen while sleeping
கனவு kaṉavu, கனா kaṉā
hope or wish
கனவு kaṉavu, கனா kaṉā
visionary scheme
கனவு kaṉavu, கனா kaṉā
see imaginary events while sleeping
கனவுகாண் kaṉavukāṇ, கனாக்காண் kaṉākkāṇ

dream in Marathi

imaginary events seen while sleeping
स्वप्न svapna
hope or wish
स्वप्न svapna
see imaginary events while sleeping
स्वप्न पाहणे svapna pāhṇe

dream in Urdu

imaginary events seen while sleeping
خْوَاب xvāb, سَپْنا sapnā
hope or wish
آرْزُو ārzū, خْوَاب xvāb, سَپْنا sapnā, خَیال xayāl, رویا royā
More languagesFewer languages
dream in Bengali
স্বপ্ন śopno, খোয়াব khōẇab, স্বপ্ন দেখা śopno dekha
dream in Telugu
కల kala, స్వప్నము svapnamu, స్వప్నం svapnaṁ, కలగను kalaganu
dream in Malayalam
കിനാവ് kināvŭ, സ്വപ്നം svapnaṁ
dream in Kannada
ಕನಸು kanasu, ಸ್ವಪ್ನ svapna
dream in Gujarati
સ્વપ્ન svapna
dream in Odia
ସ୍ୱପ୍ନ swapna
dream in Sanskrit
स्वप्न svapna
dream in Sinhala
ස්වප්න swapna
dream in Assamese
সপোন xopün, হেঁপাহ hẽpah
dream in Nepali
सपना sapanā, सपना देख्नु sapanā dekhnu
dream in Tagalog
panaginip, pangarap
dream in Arabic
حُلْم ḥulm, رُؤْيَا ruʔyā, مَنام manām, حلم ḥélem
dream in Malay
mimpi, harapan, impian, bermimpi
dream in Indonesian
mimpi, bermimpi, memimpikan, impian
dream in Persian
خواب xâb, رُؤْیا ro'yâ, آرِزو ârezu, آرْزو ârzu
dream in Thai
ฝัน fǎn, ความฝัน kwaam-fǎn, ความใฝ่ฝัน, ฝันถึง
dream in Vietnamese
giấc mơ, ước mơ, giấc mộng, mơ
dream in Myanmar
အိပ်မက် ipmak

Examples of dream in a sentence

  • the dream of his youth
  • Dreams are but interludes which fancy makes.1700, [John] Dryden, “The Cock and the Fox: Or, The Tale of the Nun’s Priest, from Chaucer”, in Fables Ancient and Modern; […], London: […]...
  • And I find it kind of funny, I find it kind of sad / The dreams in which I'm dying are the best I've ever had1982, “Mad World”, in Roland Orzabal (lyrics), The Hurting, performed by Tears for Fears:
  • I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.1963 August 28, Martin Luther King, I have a Dream:
  • There sober thought pursued the amusing theme, / Till Fancy coloured it and formed a dream.c. 1735, Alexander Pope, John Donne's Satires Versified:

All 40 example sentences with dream

Synonyms of dream

Forms of dream

Noun
pluraldreams
alternative form (obsolete)dreame
Verb
third-person singular presentdreams
present participledreaming
past participledreamed
pastdreamed
past participledreamt
pastdreamt

Past tense of dream: dreamed or dreamt

Plural of dream: dreams

Origin of dream

From Middle English dream, dreem, dreeme, drem, dreme, dræm, from Old English drēam, drēm, drīm (“joy; melody, music; frenzy”), from Proto-West Germanic *draum, from Proto-Germanic *draumaz (“dream”), from earlier *draugmaz, from Proto-Indo-European *dʰrowgʰ-mos, from *dʰrewgʰ- (“to deceive”). The sense of "dream", though not attested in Old English, may still have been present (compare Old Saxon drōm (“bustle, revelry, jubilation", also "dream”)), and was undoubtedly reinforced later in Middle English by Old Norse draumr (“dream”), from same Proto-Germanic root. Cognates Cognate with Scots dreme (“dream”), Saterland Frisian Droom (“dream”), West Frisian dream (“dream”), Dutch droom (“dream”), German Traum (“dream”), Limburgish Droum (“dream”), Luxembourgish Dram (“dream”), Yiddish טרוים (troym, “dream”), Danish and Norwegian Bokmål drøm (“dream”), Faroese dreymur (“dream”), Icelandic draumur (“dream”), Norwegian Nynorsk draum, drøm (“dream”), Swedish dröm (“dream”); also Breton drouk (“bad; evil”), Cornish drog (“bad; evil; invalid; nasty; wicked; wrong”), Irish droch- (“bad; ill-”), Manx drogh (“bad; evil”), Scottish Gaelic droch (“bad”), Welsh drwg (“bad; naughty”), Avestan...

Words formed from dream

Phrases with dream

32 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with dream

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about dream

What does dream mean?
Dream means imaginary events seen in the mind while sleeping.
What is dream in Hindi?
Dream in Hindi is सपना (sapnā), ख़्वाब (xvāb), आरज़ू (ārzū). See Dream meaning in Hindi.
How do you use dream in a sentence?
the dream of his youth
What part of speech is dream?
Dream can be a noun, a verb or an adjective.
How do you pronounce dream?
Dream is pronounced /ˈdɹiːm/ (UK).
What is the plural of dream?
The plural of dream is dreams.

Words near dream in the dictionary

  1. dreads
  2. dreadsome
  3. dreadtalk
  4. dreadworthy
  5. dready
  6. dream
  7. dream board
  8. dream boards
  9. dream catcher
  10. dream catchers
  11. dream come through

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: dream (page history and authors); DREAM (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-dream.wav, En-us-dream.ogg.

Cite this entry: “dream.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/dream. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.