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dreaminess

dreaminess

1 4.2
A relaxed, comfortable feeling of being lost in pleasant daydreams
  • noun
  • /ˈdriːmiːnəs/
translation icon : soñador
  • I can hear the air currents from the vents, but the air remains thick with the hot dreaminess of a school day in summer.

Examples

  • We rode out to Heathrow in a taxi, she bundled in her black coat with the blue frogging and looking especially vulnerable in a way that lent youthful dreaminess to her face.

    Fiction book (1991)
  • For a moment, her eyes looked inside herself, to the memory, and the dreaminess in her expression filled me with my own love for Koji.

    Fiction book (1996)
  • They share an energetic dreaminess that makes Susan uneasy.

    Fiction book (2000)
  • He smoothed his palm over his face and chin in a new dreaminess she hadn't seen before.

    Fiction book (1990)
  • He wore a look of furtive sorrow, of dreaminess, as if his toehold in the present were tenuous and his mind, behind restless brown eyes, flitted between a past and a future, neither of which he could accommodate.

    Fiction book (1997)
  • How gradually these feverish ideas had lost their richness, their possibility, a sullen hard certitude replacing her wild flights of hope, her father's cold pragmatism canceling out the romantic dreaminess she must have inherited from her mother.

    Fiction book (1994)
  • As the sun set, a warm dreaminess enveloped the room, making it feel cozy and inviting.

  • After hours of daydreaming at her desk, she finally embraced a sense of dreaminess that allowed her thoughts to wander.

  • Lying on the grass, I was lost in a delightful dreaminess, imagining all the adventures I could take.

Synonyms

serenity
vsdreaminess
48 4.4

A calm, peaceful feeling without worry

adds the element of pleasant drifting thoughts to simple calm
reverie
vsdreaminess
15 7.5

A pleasant daydream when you are lost in thought

is a relaxed comfortable state with mild pleasant thoughts
dreaming
vsdreaminess
7 2.8

Thinking about things you want or imagine while you are awake

focuses more on calm comfort than vivid fantasy or visions
daydreaming
vsdreaminess
1 3.2

Thinking about pleasant things while not paying attention

is a passive relaxed comfort rather than an active wandering mind
woolgathering
vsdreaminess
  • Archaic
9.0

Lost in daydreams and not paying attention

is a relaxed comfortable state without implying clumsiness or absence
oneirism
vsdreaminess
  • Specialized
9.9

A state when you feel like you are dreaming while awake

is milder and pleasant rather than hallucinatory or intense
relaxedness
vsdreaminess
5.5

A calm, comfortable state with little worry or stress

includes gentle pleasant thoughtfulness in addition to mere calm

Antonyms

794 3.5

Close attention to one subject or activity

14 2.9

A state of being watchful and ready to notice and act on danger or problems

How Dreamy

absorption
5 4.9
dreaminess
1 4.2
relaxation
54 1.6
calmness
9 2.7

Surface Forms

dreaminess singular
dreaminesses plural

Morphology

dreaminess = dreamy (transparent) = dream + y + ness

Formed by adding the productive noun-forming suffix '-ness' to the readily recognized adjective 'dreamy', so the meaning follows directly.

Etymology

Dreaminess comes from the simple word dream ('images while you sleep' or 'pleasant thoughts') plus the ending -ness meaning 'state'. So, dreaminess is the 'state' of feeling soft, relaxed and a little lost in pleasant thoughts, like living in a gentle daydream.