dreamily
Americanadverb
-
in a way that relates to or resembles a dream.
-
in a musing, absent-minded way, as if in a daydream.
Explanation
Doing something dreamily means acting as though you're half-awake or somewhat removed from reality. If you're thinking about your crush, you may respond to your math teacher's question by smiling dreamily. If you're walking dreamily down the street, you're not fully aware of where you are and what you're doing, because your mind is elsewhere. When someone acts dreamily, they seen ti be thinking happy thoughts or having a lovely daydream. It may drive you crazy when you're waiting for your brother's pizza order as he stares dreamily out the window. Dreamily is from dream and its Germanic root, which means "deception or illusion."
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Some of us are poring over newspapers or dreamily watching the countryside fly by.
From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 2, 2025
But while there are songs of struggle, at least half of the record is a tribute to his partner, especially on the yacht rock of Better Man; and the dreamily devoted Electric Marine Blue.
From BBC • Oct. 22, 2025
A 48-year-old Los Angeles-based artist, Rawles is known for her paintings of Black people floating, often singly or in pairs, in rippling watery landscapes, at once hyper-realistic and dreamily abstracted.
From New York Times • Dec. 2, 2024
In our chairs, we relaxed, staring off dreamily.
From Slate • May 18, 2024
“You have the sweetest face,” she said, looking at me dreamily.
From "The Name of the Wind" by Patrick Rothfuss
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
