as in trance
the state of being lost in thought
if you're bored while traveling, daydreaming is a perfectly normal state to be in, regardless of what the road signs say
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as in dreaming
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Recent Examples of daydreaming
Kiana Mickles, Pitchfork, 5 Mar. 2026
These cuts enable us to spend more time daydreaming and less time in the salon.
—Loren Savini, Allure, 14 Feb. 2026
Filmmaking is blind instinct, petty calculations, smooth generalship, daydreaming, pig-headedness, grace, bluff, risk.
—Susan Sontag, Vogue, 26 Oct. 2025
The colorful flowers are perfect for a photo-op or casual daydreaming.
—Paige Moore, AZCentral.com, 7 Oct. 2025
Those daydreaming of taking in the sweeping sunrise vistas across Middle Harbour just got lucky because one of the most significant abodes on the street just surfaced on market for the first time in over four decades.
—Demetrius Simms, Robb Report, 27 Aug. 2025
This is a train ride for daydreaming, drawing, reading, playing cards, or any other low-tech pursuit.
—Alesandra Dubin, AFAR Media, 25 Aug. 2025
Maladaptive daydreaming is a form of intense daydreaming characterized by the creation of unrealistic or fantastical situations, conversations, or stories in one’s own mind that are outside the realm of a person’s day-to-day life.
—Angelica Bottaro, Verywell Health, 7 Aug. 2025
Noun
In the album’s most beautiful moments, Triplin makes arpeggios sound like prancing through an earthly paradise and sands off juke’s rough edges to produce rhythms that seem to chug along in the margins of a daydreaming brain.
—Kiana Mickles, Pitchfork, 5 Mar. 2026
These cuts enable us to spend more time daydreaming and less time in the salon.
—Loren Savini, Allure, 14 Feb. 2026
Filmmaking is blind instinct, petty calculations, smooth generalship, daydreaming, pig-headedness, grace, bluff, risk.
—Susan Sontag, Vogue, 26 Oct. 2025
The colorful flowers are perfect for a photo-op or casual daydreaming.
—Paige Moore, AZCentral.com, 7 Oct. 2025
Those daydreaming of taking in the sweeping sunrise vistas across Middle Harbour just got lucky because one of the most significant abodes on the street just surfaced on market for the first time in over four decades.
—Demetrius Simms, Robb Report, 27 Aug. 2025
This is a train ride for daydreaming, drawing, reading, playing cards, or any other low-tech pursuit.
—Alesandra Dubin, AFAR Media, 25 Aug. 2025
Maladaptive daydreaming is a form of intense daydreaming characterized by the creation of unrealistic or fantastical situations, conversations, or stories in one’s own mind that are outside the realm of a person’s day-to-day life.
—Angelica Bottaro, Verywell Health, 7 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for daydreaming
Noun
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The floating objects, trance communications, phantom touches, miraculous healings, and poltergeist writings that followed in the five decades after Mona’s death were attributed to her and a pantheon of other notable spirits, including Black Elk.—
Shannon Taggart,
Artforum,
1 Feb. 2026
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In other words, the age-old trance of acceptance has broken, and there are suddenly too many entrepreneurs capturing disaffected audiences by accusing legacy institutions of corruption and cowardice.—
Sean Williams,
Harpers Magazine,
27 Jan. 2026
Verb
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What starts out as a murder mystery set amid Oxford’s dreaming spires becomes a globe-trotting adventure with a very personal angle for Holmes and family.—
Stewart Clarke,
Deadline,
12 Mar. 2026
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Español When 2016 started, Bad Gyal was dreaming of becoming a superstar, living what could feel like three lives, working two jobs while studying fashion design.—
Ingrid Fajardo,
Billboard,
12 Mar. 2026
Noun
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More than masturbatory daydreams, Vladimir inspires our heroine to write with abandon, ignoring professional and personal obligations in service to her muse.—
Alison Herman,
Variety,
5 Mar. 2026
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Below, some of the finest, high-quality ruffled bedding around the web for creating the frothy bedscape of your daydreams.—
Yelena Moroz Alpert,
Architectural Digest,
28 Feb. 2026
Adjective
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The big wedding episode of any television series has to be romantic, epic, and dreamy.—
Juli Weiner,
Vanity Fair,
6 Mar. 2026
-
Over the past three years, few artists have seen a more stratospheric rise to fame, and her new record rolled out with Barbie-like images of Megan surrounded by a dreamy landscape of pink clouds.—
Sid Evans,
Southern Living,
6 Mar. 2026
Verb
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Hedda’s romantic picture — of Lovborg dying magnificently, with Dionysian vine leaves in his hairs, from a bullet of one of her own guns — smacks of the same literary cliches that has Emma fantasizing about a torchlight wedding at midnight.—
Theater Critic,
Los Angeles Times,
25 Feb. 2026
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When her daughter was born in December, Ivanova called her Yustyna – the name the couple picked together when fantasizing about having children.—
Ivana Kottasová,
CNN Money,
22 Feb. 2026
Adjective
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Closure finally feels possible as Luna in your pensive 12th house cooperates with tender Chiron in your 8th House of Delicate Topics.—
Tarot.com,
Baltimore Sun,
1 Mar. 2026
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The pensive sophistication and opalescent style with which the film unparcels its ideas might not please arthouse crowds wanting broader emotional gestures, but Dulude-De Celles may be a festival-circuit major in the making.—
Guy Lodge,
Variety,
16 Feb. 2026
Verb
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Although the central story is intimate in scale, the film’s scope is large and its social purview deep, and this vast amplitude is a function of Ouédraogo’s way of staging action, or, rather, of envisioning it.—
Richard Brody,
New Yorker,
6 Mar. 2026
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Beyond the arena, Welts shared fresh details about the entertainment district the team is envisioning with its next home.—
Devyani Chhetri,
Dallas Morning News,
3 Mar. 2026
Adjective
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The absorbed or scattered light creates a unique pattern called the spectrum, which is effectively the substance’s fingerprint.—
Ambuj Tewari,
The Conversation,
6 Mar. 2025
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Although the mercury hovered at only 5°, all of us became so absorbed in the rabbit chase that no one noticed numb toes and cold ears.—
Erwin A. Bauer,
Outdoor Life,
25 Dec. 2024
Cite this Entry
“Daydreaming.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/daydreaming. Accessed 14 Mar. 2026.
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