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reverie

/ˈrɛvəri/
/ˈrɛvəri/
IPA guide

If you're relaxing on the beach, dreaming of how you will never have to get up and go back to work, you're engaged in a reverie, or pleasant daydream.

There's nothing wrong with reverie, but if you follow its path into English, you'll see how closely it is connected to madness. The noun is from French rêverie, from a Middle French word meaning "wild speech, delirium," from rever "to roam, speak wildly." Middle French rever is also the source of English rave, as in raving mad.

Definitions of reverie
  1. noun
    an abstracted state of absorption
    synonyms: revery
    see moresee less
    types:
    dream
    a state of mind characterized by abstraction and release from reality
    brown study
    a state of deep absorption or thoughtfulness
    type of:
    abstractedness, abstraction
    preoccupation with something to the exclusion of all else
  2. noun
    absentminded dreaming while awake
    see moresee less
    type of:
    dream, dreaming
    imaginative thoughts indulged in while awake
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