TKG English Learner's Dictionary

dream

dreamverb

American /drim/ British /driːm/ Dream rhymes with team. The past form dreamt is said dremt, rhyming with tempt without the p.
third-person singular dreams past tense dreamed past participle dreamed present participle dreaming also dreamt
very commondefining vocabulary

To dream is to see pictures in your mind of things that are not real now, while you sleep or while you are awake and hoping or imagining.

  1. while asleepsee pictures and events in your mind while you are asleep

    transitive or intransitive [T/I] verb + preposition + object [V + prep + obj] verb + that-clause [V + that]

    Collocations

    verb + preposition dream about something, dream of something
    adverb + verb often dream

  2. hopethink about something that you would very much like to have or to happen

    intransitive [I] verb + preposition + object [V + prep + obj]

    Collocations

    verb + preposition dream of doing something, dream about doing something
    adverb + verb always dream, secretly dream

    Synonyms wish; hope

  3. imaginethink that something could happen or could be possible

    Used mainly with never or in questions, to show that something was surprising: I never dreamed it would be so easy.

    transitive or intransitive [T/I] verb + that-clause [V + that] verb + preposition + object [V + prep + obj]

    Collocations

    phrase never dream that, little did I dream that

    Synonyms imagine

  4. not paying attentionthink about other things instead of paying attention to what is around you

    intransitive [I]

    Synonyms daydream

Phrases

not dream of doing something

would never consider doing something, because you think it would be wrong

Usually in the form wouldn't dream of or would never dream of.

dream on informalironic

used to tell someone that what they hope for will not happen

  • "I'll finish it by tomorrow." "Dream on!"

Word family

  • dream
  • dreamer
  • dreamy

Usage

Both dreamed and dreamt are correct for the past tense and past participle. Dreamed is more usual in American English; dreamt is common in British English.

Common mistakes

Last night I dreamed with you. Last night I dreamed about you.
The person or thing you dream of follows about or of, not with.
I dream to be a doctor. I dream of being a doctor.
In the hoping sense, dream is followed by of or about and an -ing form.

See also dream up

For translators

Grammar trap "dream" takes about or of before what is dreamed: dream about you, dream of being rich. It does not take with, and in the hoping sense it does not take a to form.