Dream vs. Desire — What's the Difference?

A dream is a succession of images, ideas, emotions, and sensations that usually occur involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep. The content and function of dreams are not fully understood, although they have been a topic of scientific, philosophical and religious interest throughout recorded history.

Desires are states of mind that are expressed by terms like "wanting", "wishing", "longing" or "craving". A great variety of features is commonly associated with desires.

A series of thoughts, images, and sensations occurring in a person's mind during sleep

To wish or long for; want

A cherished aspiration, ambition, or ideal

To want to have sex with (another person).

Experience dreams during sleep

To express a wish for; request.

Indulge in daydreams or fantasies about something greatly desired

The feeling of wanting to have something or wishing that something will happen.

Contemplate the possibility of doing something or that something might be the case

An instance of this feeling

A series of images, ideas, emotions, and sensations occurring involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep.

Sexual appetite; passion.

A daydream; a reverie.

An object of such feeling or passion

A state of abstraction; a trance

(Archaic) A request or petition.

A condition or achievement that is longed for; an aspiration

To want; to wish for earnestly.

A wild fancy or unrealistic hope

To put a request to (someone); to entreat.

(Informal) One that is exceptionally gratifying, excellent, or beautiful

To want emotionally or sexually.

To experience a dream in sleep

To express a wish for; to entreat; to request.

To daydream

To require; to demand; to claim.

To have a deep aspiration or hope

To miss; to regret.

To regard something as feasible or practical

(countable) Someone or something wished for.

To experience a dream of while asleep

(uncountable) Strong attraction, particularly romantic or sexual.

To conceive as possible; imagine

(uncountable) The feeling of desiring; an eager longing for something.

To have as an aspiration or hope

(uncountable) Motivation. en

To pass (time) idly or in reverie.

To long for; to wish for earnestly; to covet.

Imaginary events seen in the mind while sleeping.

To express a wish for; to entreat; to request.

(figurative) A hope or wish.

To require; to demand; to claim.

A visionary scheme; a wild conceit; an idle fancy.

To miss; to regret.

(intransitive) To see imaginary events in one's mind while sleeping.

The natural longing that is excited by the enjoyment or the thought of any good, and impels to action or effort its continuance or possession; an eager wish to obtain or enjoy.

(intransitive) To hope, to wish.

An expressed wish; a request; petition.

(intransitive) To daydream.

Anything which is desired; an object of longing.

(transitive) To envision as an imaginary experience (usually when asleep).

Excessive or morbid longing; lust; appetite.

(intransitive) To consider the possibility (of).

Grief; regret.

Ideal; perfect.

The feeling that accompanies an unsatisfied state

The thoughts, or series of thoughts, or imaginary transactions, which occupy the mind during sleep; a sleeping vision.

An inclination to want things;

A visionary scheme; a wild conceit; an idle fancy; a vagary; a revery; - in this sense, applied to an imaginary or anticipated state of happiness; as, a dream of bliss; the dream of his youth.

Something that is desired

To have ideas or images in the mind while in the state of sleep; to experience sleeping visions; - often with of; as, to dream of a battle, or of an absent friend.

Feel or have a desire for; want strongly;

To let the mind run on in idle revery or vagary; to anticipate vaguely as a coming and happy reality; to have a visionary notion or idea; to imagine.

Expect and wish;

To have a dream of; to see, or have a vision of, in sleep, or in idle fancy; - often followed by an objective clause.

Express a desire for

A series of mental images and emotions occurring during sleep;

A cherished desire;

Imaginative thoughts indulged in while awake;

A fantastic but vain hope (from fantasies induced by the opium pipe);

A state of mind characterized by abstraction and release from reality;

Someone of something wonderful;

Have a daydream; indulge in a fantasy

Experience while sleeping;