Meaning of Dreams: What It Is and How To Use It

What do our dreams mean? How do psychologists and psychoanalysts interpret dreams? This article covers the meaning of dreams.

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Have you ever had a strange dream and wondered what it meant? This article will cover the meanings of different dreams and other topics related to the word dreams, such as synonyms and translations. 

What Do Dreams Mean?

Many psychologists and psychoanalysts like Carl Jung believe different things about the interpretation of dreams. According to VeryWell Mind, Sigmund Freud was the first psychoanalysts to believe that dreams reflect our unconscious desires or fears. Some people also believe that dreams are more biological than psychological and that sleep position plays a role.

Dream interpretation is often thought to reflect on our waking life. It is thought that emotions such as anxiety, guilt, distress, shame, or sadness in real life can be represented in different ways during REM sleep (rapid-eye movement sleep). 

Good dreams, bad dreams, vivid dreams, nightmares, and various dream themes during the sleep stages can reflect your real mood or wish fulfillment. 

What Are Common Dream Meanings?

Many common dreams happen during the REM stage of sleep that scientists believe can reflect your life experiences. Take a look at the archetypes of dreams listed below, and see if you’ve ever dreamed these dreams! 

If you have rarer dreams that aren’t listed below, you can talk to a dream analyst about what they might mean.

Teeth Falling Out

If you have dreams about losing your teeth, it often relates to a loss of something else. This could be interpreted in a physical sense, and you might be worried about your appearance. 

The teeth falling out dream could also be interpreted as being worried about communication or something you have said. Teeth are a powerful tool, so losing teeth might relate to losing power or assertion. 

Falling or Running

If you have dreams about falling or being chased, these can reflect your current fears. Falling dreams often relate to directionlessness, while dreams about being chased could be telling you to stop running from your problems. 

Childhood Home

If you dream that you are back in your childhood home, it might relate to emotions you felt as a child. Depending on if the dream is good or bad, this might bring you back to a time of freedom and no responsibilities, or it might reflect the powerlessness that children often feel. Think about your relationship with your childhood if you find yourself dreaming of your childhood home.

Meeting a Celebrity

If you dream of meeting a celebrity, it could simply mean that said celebrity is on the brain. Maybe you just saw them in a new film, or they are in the news. Dreaming about fame or celebrity could also reflect on a wish to be seen or creativity. 

Pregnancy

Pregnancy dreams can represent many different things. While it could directly correlate to motherhood, these types of dreams are often thought to reflect on any deepening relationship and growing bond.

Cheating Spouse

If you dream that your partner is unfaithful, it does not necessarily mean that this is the case. It can, however, reflect on the fact that you might have a lack of trust or faith in your partner. You might also simply be anxious about your relationship, which can be reflected in the dream. 

What Are Translations of the Word Dreams?

People dream all around the world. If you are looking to communicate with a non-English speaker about dreams, you can reference this list of translations of dreams from Nice Translator to start communicating.

  • Gujarati: સપનાઓ
  • Spanish: Sueños
  • Welsh: freuddwydion
  • Malay: impian
  • Hindi: सपने
  • Urdu: خواب
  • Polish: sny
  • Chinese (Taiwan): 夢
  • Basque: ametsak
  • Latvian: sapņi
  • Hungarian: álmok
  • Finnish: unet
  • Arabic: أحلام
  • Dutch: dromen
  • Slovenian: sanje
  • Malayalam: സ്വപ്നങ്ങൾ
  • Danish: drømme
  • Ukrainian: мрії
  • Vietnamese: Những giấc mơ
  • Amharic: ሕልሞች
  • Czech: snů
  • Greek: όνειρα
  • Portuguese (Portugal): sonhos
  • Romanian: vise
  • Turkish: rüyalar
  • Chinese (PRC): 梦
  • Marathi: स्वप्ने
  • Thai: ความฝัน
  • Tamil: கனவுகள்
  • Slovak: sny
  • Croatian: snove
  • Swahili: ndoto.
  • Indonesian: mimpi
  • Korean: 꿈
  • Bulgarian: мечти
  • Russian: мечты
  • Hebrew: חלומות
  • Catalan: somnis
  • Bengali: স্বপ্ন
  • German: Träume
  • Filipino: mga pangarap
  • Estonian: unistused
  • Japanese: 夢
  • Portuguese (Brazil): sonhos
  • Kannada: ಕನಸುಗಳು
  • Swedish: drömmar
  • Norwegian: drømmer
  • Italian: sogni
  • Serbian: снова
  • French: rêves
  • Telugu: డ్రీమ్స్

What Are Synonyms of the Word Dreams?

We can use the word dreams to refer to two different things: the images we see in our mind when we are asleep or our ambitions and desires. If you want to avoid confusion based on which meaning of dreams you intend to use, you can use a synonym of dreams from Power Thesaurus instead. 

  • abstractions
  • air castle
  • ambition
  • ambitions
  • aspiration
  • aspirations
  • be preoccupied
  • blue skies
  • bubbles
  • castles in Spain
  • castles in the air
  • castles in the sky
  • chimeras
  • conceive
  • consider
  • daydream
  • daydreams
  • delight
  • delusions
  • desire
  • desires
  • dream
  • dreaming
  • fabrications
  • fancies
  • fancy
  • fantasias
  • fantasies
  • fantasize
  • fantasy
  • fata morganas
  • figments
  • goal
  • grail
  • hallucination
  • hallucinations
  • have a nightmare
  • hope
  • hopes
  • illusions
  • imagination
  • imaginations
  • imagine
  • intent
  • intention
  • lulus
  • marvel
  • muses
  • nightmare
  • nightmares
  • objective
  • phantasies
  • phantasmagorias
  • phantasms
  • pipe dream
  • pipe dreams
  • rem sleep
  • reverie
  • reveries
  • snoozes
  • stargaze
  • think
  • trance
  • trances
  • vision
  • visions
  • wish
  • wishes
  • wraith
  • yearning

Conclusion

Overall, dream analysis is thought to reflect on the subconscious mind. While dreams cannot be seen as predictors of our real-life events, the type of brain activity that creates dreams can create circumstances that reflect an emotion in the waking world. What do your dreams mean?

Sources:

  1. Dream Interpretations: 9 Common Dreams and What They Mean | Very Well Mind 
  2. Dreams | Nice Translator 
  3. Dreams synonyms – 246 Words and Phrases for Dreams | Power Thesaurus
  4. What does it mean when you dream about someone? Here are 8 helpful explanations. | Psych News Daily