Meaning of dream in English

dream

noun [ C ]

/driːm/ us

/driːm/

dream noun [C] (SLEEP)

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a series of events or images that happen in your mind when you are sleeping:

a good/bad dream

a recurring dream

have a dream I had a very strange dream last night.

dream about A lot of my dreams are about flying.

[ + that ] Paul had a dream that he won the lottery.

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Jane's hand on my shoulder woke me from a bad dream.
I was in the middle of an amazing dream when the alarm went off.
Some people believe that dreams reveal important things about your subconscious thoughts.
I had a weird dream about you last night.
If I eat a lot of cheese in the evening, I have amazing dreams.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Dreaming

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dream noun [C] (HOPE)

something that you want to happen very much but that is not very likely:

someone's dream is to do something Her dream is to play for England.

It's always been my dream to have flying lessons.

I'd like to run my own business — that's the dream, anyway.

Synonyms

aim  (INTENTION)
ambition
aspiration (HOPE)
goal (AIM)
hope 
intent  formal or specialized
intention
object  (PURPOSE)
objective 
target  (AIM)

Thesaurus: synonyms, antonyms, and examples

something you want to do or achieve

aimOur aim in protesting is to raise awareness of the unfairness of the system.
goalMy goal in life has always been to be financially independent.
objectiveOne of my objectives for this year is to increase sales.
targetIf you meet your sales targets you will receive a generous bonus.
dreamWhen I was growing up my dream was to perform in front of millions of people.
hopeMy hope is that there will be some kind of positive outcome to this process.

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a dream come true

something good that someone wanted very much to happen but seemed very unlikely, that does in fact happen:

Winning all that money was a dream come true.

of dreams

used to say that something is perfect or excellent:

With gorgeous colours and sumptuously soft velvet, this really is the sofa of dreams.

of your dreams

used to say that something is what someone has always wanted or the best that they can imagine:

Win the house of your dreams in our fantastic competition!

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Their dream to bring computers and ordinary people together was nothing less than revolutionary.
To win the Olympic gold medal was the realization of his life's dream.
Ever since she was a child her dream has been to teach school.
It was his boyhood dream to become a film director.
After all the problems I'd had getting pregnant, Oliver's birth was a dream come true.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Hoping and hopefulness

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You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:

Wanting things

Idioms

be (living) in a dream world
beyond your wildest dreams
in a dream
in your dreams!
not/never in your wildest dreams
work/go like a dream
wouldn't dream of something/doing something

dream

adjective

/driːm/ us

/driːm/

dream house, job, etc.

the perfect house, job, etc., that you want more than any other:

It had always been their intention to build their dream house.

dream

verb

/driːm/ us

/driːm/

dreamed or dreamt | dreamed or dreamt

dream verb (SLEEP)

A2 [ I or T ]

to experience events and images in your mind while you are sleeping:

dream about What did you dream about last night?

dream of I often dream of flying.

[ + that ] I dreamed (that) I was having a baby.

[ I or T ] mainly UK

to imagine that you have heard, done, or seen something when you have not:

Did you say that you were going tonight or did I dream it?

I thought I'd bought some polish and it seems I haven't - I must have been dreaming.

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She dreamed she saw someone standing at the foot of her bed.
There's an old superstition that young girls going to bed on this night dream of their future husbands.
Last night I dreamed that you were living in my kitchen - it was weird!
I couldn't believe what I was seeing - I thought I must be dreaming.
If you're dreaming that you're about to die, you always wake up, don't you?

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Dreaming

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Imagining and conceiving

dream verb (HOPE)

B1 [ I ]

to imagine something that you would like to happen:

dream of I dream of living on a tropical island.

[ + that ] He never dreamed (that) one day he would become president.

never dreamed We never dreamed (that) this could happen.

dream on informal

used to tell someone that what they are hoping for is not likely to happen or to be true:

"Watch. All I have to do is wink at her, and she'll come over here." "Dream on, Dave!"

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Imagining and conceiving

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Phrasal verbs

dream about/of something

dream something up

(Definition of dream from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)

dream | American Dictionary

dream

noun [ C ]

/drim/

dream noun [C] (SLEEP)

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the activities, images, and feelings experienced by the mind during sleep:

In the dream I had last night, someone was chasing me, but I didn’t know who it was.

dream noun [C] (HOPE)

an event or condition that you hope for very much, although it is not likely to happen:

It was his dream to be a dancer.

Dream is sometimes used before a noun when you want to say that something is almost perfect:

If there were one more bedroom, it would be my dream house.

Idiom

dream come true

dream

verb

/drim/

past tense and past participle dreamed us/drimd, dremt/ dreamt us/dremt/

dream verb (SEE IMAGES)

to experience activities, images, and feelings in your mind during sleep:

[ I ] What did you dream about last night?

[ + that clause ] I dreamed that I was in a boat on a big lake, and I was trying to get back to land.

dream verb (HOPE)

[ I ]

to desire something very much and hope that it happens:

Ever since that defeat, he had dreamed of revenge.

Idiom

someone would not dream of doing something

Phrasal verb

dream up something

(Definition of dream from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

Examples of dream

dream

We were able to visit places that we had never been able to see and never dreamed that we would see.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

My memories are fresh and vivid as some of the more powerful dreams that come to me in the dark before morning.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

What are we to do with the visual denizens of luminous dreams?

From the Cambridge English Corpus

He responds to this provocation with an exposition of the authority of dreams that is staggering by contrast.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Chauntecleer is only an interpreter - of the heavens, of dreams, of previous textual authority.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Utopian dreaming did not banish waking nightmares, but made those nightmares seem so routine and familiar as to impoverish dreaming.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Older priests had fewer transcendent experiences and less trust in dreams and imagination than younger priests.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

In this quotation, dreams of flying provide a self-legitimating text and a plenitude of images.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

By the 7th century, then, the three principal approaches to dreams had all been clearly formulated.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

He argued that such a philosophical position could not cope with the phenomena of dreams and especially hypnosis.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

His work on dreams and symbolism has proved valuable in clinical work.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

His point is that astrology is less of a threat than is a nation, or statesmen, without dreams.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Not only "less guarded" words but "livelier shapes" enhance the fancy-work of refashioning individual patriots and collective dreams.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Rather, dreaming appears to be a consequence of various forms of cerebral activation during sleep.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

See all examples of dream

These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.

Collocations with dream

dream

These are words often used in combination with dream.

Click on a collocation to see more examples of it.

bad dream

He cast a dark shadow over the country's sense of well-being, a bad dream that would not go away.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

beyond the dreams of avarice

This country is really rich in its capacity beyond the dreams of avarice.

From the

Hansard archive

Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0

childhood dream

Her childhood dream was to become a flight attendant, but at the age of 16, she was discovered on the street by a fashion editor.

From

Wikipedia

This example is from Wikipedia and may be reused under a CC BY-SA license.

See all collocations with dream

What is the pronunciation of dream?

What is the pronunciation of dreamed?

A2,B1,A2,B1

Translations of dream

in Chinese (Traditional)

睡覺, 夢，睡夢，夢境, 希望…

in Chinese (Simplified)

睡觉, 梦，睡梦，梦境, 希望…

in Spanish

sueño, soñar, sueño [masculine]…

in Portuguese

sonho, sonhar, sonho [masculine]…

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स्वप्न, असे काहीतरी जे आपल्याला खूप व्हायचे आहे परंतु ते होण्याची शक्यता फारशी नाही, आपल्याला घडायला आवडेल अशा एखाद्या गोष्टीची कल्पना करणे…

（寝ている時に見る）夢, （将来の）夢, 夢を見る…

rüya, hayal, rüya görmek…

rêve [masculine], rêver, rêvé/-ée…

somni, somiar…

droom, droomtoestand, dromen…

நீங்கள் தூங்கும்போது உங்கள் மனதில் நடக்கும் நிகழ்வுகள் அல்லது படங்களின் தொடர், நீங்கள் மிகவும் நடக்க விரும்பும் ஒன்று, ஆனால் அது மிகவும் சாத்தியமில்லை…

सपना, एक संभावित इच्छा, सपना देखना…

સ્વપ્ન, શમણું, કોઈ એવી બાબતની કલ્પના કરવી જે બને તેવું તમે ઇચ્છતા હોય.…

drøm, håb, drømme…

dröm, drömmeri, drömma…

mimpi, mengelamun, sempurna…

der Traum, die Träumerei, der Wunschtraum…