like a dream
46
4.9
- idiom
- Informal
:
como un sueño
- Handles like a dream and keeps me one step closer to heaven.
- like a dream come true
- seems like a dream
- feels like a dream
These are from tart and they work like a dream.
- These are from tart and they work like a dream.
- It is a beautiful gloss that stays on like a dream.
- And as you can see, it is going on like a dream.
- So that's not a good sign, but it did go on like a dream and some people want a more luminous finish.
Examples
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The result, when he sniffed it, nearly made him pass out, and it worked like a dream on the dogs.
Fiction book (1998) -
The project finished like a dream, exceeding all our expectations.
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That game today was just like a dream.
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This is like a dream.
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Now that we're back in the normal routine, it all seems like a dream.
Blog text (14) -
Yet the whole rig is clicking like a dream.
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The telescope worked, in the words of one scientist, "like a dream."
Academic text (1994) -
But it's just like a dream come true, the whole thing.
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The Audi drove like a dream, but I wisely kept the thought to myself.
Fiction book (1996) -
It feels like a dream, doesn't it?
Synonyms
111
1.0
In a very good and impressive way
Antonyms
How Well
Surface Forms
Morphology
The sense 'extremely well; as if perfect' follows directly from the simile structure 'like' (comparison) + 'a dream' (an ideal or very pleasant thing), so a learner who knows the words can infer that something resembles an ideal experience. This is a common, cross-linguistic simile pattern rather than an idiomatic shift, so it should be immediately understandable to a B1 learner.
Etymology
Like a dream comes from the image of a good dream where everything goes smoothly and seems perfect. So when we say something went like a dream, we mean it worked or looked 'perfect' or 'very well'.