dream up

verb

dreamed up or dreamt up; dreaming up; dreams up

transitive verb

: to form in the mind : devise, concoct

Examples of dream up in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Stage directors and performers have attempted to excavate and animate that ambiguity, first dreamed up by the Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen in Hedda Gabler, for over a century. —Rory Doherty, Time, 29 Oct. 2025

But of course, novelists conjure and dream up the rest—Larette is someone who came to me way back in 2017, a woman who sang to her husband and whose life revolves around music, so that first few lines came easily. —Literary Hub, 28 Oct. 2025

But the Grand Dame of the mystery novel wouldn’t have dreamt up such a lurid and disturbing crime. —Randy Myers, Mercury News, 24 Oct. 2025

The furniture and decor brand, dreamed up by founder Louise Roe, celebrates the gardens and cherished heirlooms of the English countryside with handmade wicker, antique homewares, chintz, and ditsy floral fabrics. —Julia Harrison, Architectural Digest, 21 Oct. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1837, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for dream up

• backup
• blowup
• breakup
• buildup
• checkup
• cleanup
• holdup
• hookup
• lineup
• lockup
• makeup
• markup