dream

 
Pronunciation: /driːm/

noun

  • 1a series of thoughts, images, and sensations occurring in a person’s mind during sleep: I had a recurrent dream about falling from great heights
  • [in singular] a state of mind in which someone is or seems to be unaware of their immediate surroundings: he had been walking around in a dream all day
  • 2a cherished aspiration, ambition, or ideal: I fulfilled a childhood dream when I became champion
  • an unrealistic or self-deluding fantasy: maybe he could get a job and earn some money—but he knew this was just a dream
  • a person or thing perceived as wonderful or perfect: her new man’s an absolute dream it was a dream of a backhand

verb (past and past participle dreamed /drɛmt, driːmd/ or dreamt /drɛmt/)

[no object]
  • 1experience dreams during sleep: I dreamed about her last night
  • [with object] see, hear, or feel (something) in a dream: maybe you dreamed it [with clause]: I dreamed that I was going to be executed
  • 2indulge in daydreams or fantasies about something greatly desired: she had dreamed of a trip to America
  • 3 [with negative] contemplate the possibility of doing something or that something might be the case: I wouldn’t dream of foisting myself on you [with clause]: I never dreamed anyone would take offence

Phrases

beyond one's wildest dreams

bigger or better than could be reasonably expected: stockbrokers command salaries beyond the wildest dreams of most workers

in your dreams

used ironically to assert that something desired is never likely to happen: in your dreams, man, in your dreams!

in one's wildest dreams

[with negative] used to emphasize that a situation is beyond the scope of one’s imagination: she could never in her wildest dreams have imagined the summer weather in New York

like a dream

informal very well or successfully: the car is still running like a dream

Phrasal Verbs

dream on

[in imperative] informal used as an ironic comment on the unlikely nature of a plan or aspiration: Dean thinks he’s going to get the job. Dream on, Babe

dream something up

imagine or invent something: he’s been dreaming up new ways of attracting customers

Derivatives

dreamful

adjective ( literary)

dreamless

adjective

Origin:

Middle English: of Germanic origin, related to Dutch droom and German Traum, and probably also to Old English drēam 'joy, music'

For the past tense and past participle of dream, dreamt and dreamed are both used and are both correct. Dreamed is pronounced /dreemd/ (and occasionally /dremt/) and dreamt is pronounced /dremt/. For the past tense in British English dreamt and dreamed are equally common, but in US English dreamed is more often used. For the past participle, dreamed is used more often in Britain and the US.