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Glite Dictionary
dream trance

dream trance

8.4
A type of dance music with soft, melodic sounds popular in the late 1990s
  • noun
  • /driːm træns/
  • Archaic
translation icon : dream trance
  • The club was playing nothing but dream trance tracks from the late '90s all night.

Examples

  • Many fans consider dream trance to be the golden era of melodic dance music.

  • He started DJing after being inspired by classic dream trance anthems.

  • I love listening to dream trance music.

  • Many DJs produce dream trance tracks.

  • Many fans consider dream trance to be the golden era of melodic dance music.

  • The club was playing nothing but dream trance tracks from the late '90s all night.

  • He started DJing after being inspired by classic dream trance anthems.

Surface Forms

dream trance singular
dream trances plural

Morphology

dream + trance

The phrase is transparently compositional: 'dream' describes the quality of the 'trance' music (i.e., trance that is dreamy, melodic and atmospheric), so a learner who knows both words can infer it denotes a substyle of trance with dreamlike qualities. This kind of adjective-noun genre formation is common across languages and music terminology, making the meaning predictable for a B1 learner.

Etymology

Dream trance gets its name from the music itself: dream describes soft, 'dream-like' melodies that seem to float, and trance describes steady beats that put listeners in a calm, almost sleepy state. So dream trance refers to the late-1990s style of melodic, atmospheric dance music that makes you feel this way.