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dream

noun · verb · adjective

Simple meaning

Imaginary events seen in the mind while sleeping.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

dreem
US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈdɹim

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

noun

  1. countable

    Imaginary events seen in the mind while sleeping.

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

    “I have this pipe dream about being emperor of the universe.”

  3. countablefigurative

    A hope or wish.

  4. A visionary scheme; a wild conceit; an idle fancy.

verb

  1. Experience while sleeping

  2. intransitive

    To hope, to wish.

  3. Have a daydream; indulge in a fantasy

  4. transitive

    To envision as an imaginary experience (usually when asleep).

  5. intransitive

    To see imaginary events in one's mind while sleeping.

  6. intransitive

    To consider the possibility (of).

adjective

  1. Ideal; perfect.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
A1 · Beginner (estimated)
Frequency
Common
Typical Use
General English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: Imaginary events seen in the mind while sleeping.

Used this way, dream is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
Matter-of-fact
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

More ways to use dream

  • “I had a dream about you last night.”noun
  • “He went about his work as if in a dream.”noun
  • “He lives in a dream that has nothing to do with reality.”noun

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

dream worldbad dreamdream come

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Inflected forms

Grammatical variations of the same word.

  • dreamingnounInflected form

    Imaginative thoughts indulged in while awake.

  • dreamernounInflected form

    Someone who is dreaming.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • dream upverbCompound term

    Devise or invent.

  • wet dreamnounCompound term

    An erotic dream (usually at night) accompanied by the (nocturnal) emission of semen.

  • pipe dreamnounCompound term

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

  • american dreamnounCompound term

    The widespread aspiration of Americans to live better than their parents did.

Related words

Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.

  • dreamlandnounRelated term

    A pleasing country existing only in dreams or imagination.

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.