daydream means A spontaneous series of thoughts while awake not connected to immediate reality. It carries an Arena rating of 1746, earned across 15 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, daydream ranks #132 of 42,747 for Qualifying, #530 of 17,127 for Words That Escaped Their Books, #614 of 17,126 for Most Elegant Words, #726 of 17,130 for Most Beautiful Words.
daydream is pronounced /ˈdeɪdɹiːm/.
Why “daydream” is a great word
A spontaneous series of pleasant or wishful thoughts disconnected from one's immediate surroundings while awake. From day (the period of light) + dream (a series of thoughts or images during sleep), first recorded in 1675–85. Unlike fantasy (a deliberate, structured narrative) or reverie (an abstracted drift without yearning), a daydream is a passive, drifting indulgence in the possible. It is the unblurred scenery of a long train journey becoming the backdrop for improbable success, the idle pencil tracing shapes on a margin while the mind constructs a different life, the silent inventory of a better self taken while staring at the rain—a modest, necessary mutiny against the tyranny of the now.
Etymology
From day + dream. Compare West Frisian deidream (“daydream”), Dutch dagdroom (“daydream”), German Tagtraum (“daydream”), Swedish dagdröm (“daydream”), Icelandic dagdraumur (“daydream”).
noun
- A spontaneous series of thoughts while awake not connected to immediate reality.
verb
- To have such a series of thoughts; to woolgather.e.g.“Stop daydreaming and get back to work!”
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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