Library / English Dictionary

DREAM

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

Irregular inflected form: dreamt   

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

A fantastic but vain hope (from fantasies induced by the opium pipe)

Example:

I have this pipe dream about being emperor of the universe

Synonyms:

dream; pipe dream

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Hypernyms ("dream" is a kind of...):

fantasy; phantasy (imagination unrestricted by reality)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A state of mind characterized by abstraction and release from reality

Example:

he went about his work as if in a dream

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Hypernyms ("dream" is a kind of...):

reverie; revery (an abstracted state of absorption)

Derivation:

dreamy (dreamy in mood or nature)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A series of mental images and emotions occurring during sleep

Example:

I had a dream about you last night

Synonyms:

dream; dreaming

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Hypernyms ("dream" is a kind of...):

imagery; imagination; imaging; mental imagery (the ability to form mental images of things or events)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "dream"):

nightmare (a terrifying or deeply upsetting dream)

wet dream (an erotic dream (usually at night) accompanied by the (nocturnal) emission of semen)

Holonyms ("dream" is a part of...):

sleeping (the state of being asleep)

Derivation:

dream (experience while sleeping)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Imaginative thoughts indulged in while awake

Example:

he lives in a dream that has nothing to do with reality

Synonyms:

dream; dreaming

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Hypernyms ("dream" is a kind 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)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "dream"):

air castle; castle in Spain; castle in the air; daydream; daydreaming; oneirism; reverie; revery (absentminded dreaming while awake)

woolgathering (an idle indulgence in fantasy)

Derivation:

dream (have a daydream; indulge in a fantasy)

dreamy (dreamy in mood or nature)

Sense 5

Meaning:

A cherished desire

Example:

his ambition is to own his own business

Synonyms:

ambition; aspiration; dream

Classified under:

Nouns denoting feelings and emotions

Hypernyms ("dream" is a kind of...):

desire (the feeling that accompanies an unsatisfied state)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "dream"):

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)

Sense 6

Meaning:

Someone or something wonderful

Example:

this dessert is a dream

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Hypernyms ("dream" is a kind of...):

flawlessness; ne plus ultra; perfection (the state of being without a flaw or defect)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Have a daydream; indulge in a fantasy

Synonyms:

daydream; dream; stargaze; woolgather

Classified under:

Verbs of sewing, baking, painting, performing

Hypernyms (to "dream" is one way to...):

conceive of; envisage; ideate; imagine (form a mental image of something that is not present or that is not the case)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s PP
Somebody ----s that CLAUSE

Also:

dream up (devise or invent)

Derivation:

dream (imaginative thoughts indulged in while awake)

dreamer (a person who escapes into a world of fantasy)

dreamer (someone guided more by ideals than by practical considerations)

dreaming (imaginative thoughts indulged in while awake)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Experience while sleeping

Example:

He dreamt a strange scene

Classified under:

Verbs of seeing, hearing, feeling

Hypernyms (to "dream" is one way to...):

comprehend; perceive (to become aware of through the senses)

"Dream" entails doing...:

catch some Z's; kip; log Z's; sleep; slumber (be asleep)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s that CLAUSE

Derivation:

dream (a series of mental images and emotions occurring during sleep)

dreamer (someone who is dreaming)

dreaming (a series of mental images and emotions occurring during sleep)

Credits

 Context examples: 

The dream may have been true, said the king.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

Even in the night, in his dreams, he was haunted by this fear.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

“I wish I had the ordering of his dreams,” said I. “He wouldn't sleep there long.”

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

You may have vivid, prophetic dreams or feel highly intuitive about certain people that are coming into your life.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

He had risen out of his drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new problem.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Dorothy fell asleep only once, and then she dreamed she was in Kansas, where Aunt Em was telling her how glad she was to have her little girl at home again.

(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)

Life was so strange and wonderful, filled with an immensity of problems, of dreams, and of heroic toils, and yet these stories dealt only with the commonplaces of life.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

I shall see him in my dreams.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I had always been pretty sharp in the office, but I had never dreamed that I was talked about in the City in this fashion.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

It is unique. It is incredible. No one on earth has ever dreamed of such a possibility.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)